But Lim Guan Eng is nobody’s running dog. He is not in office to serve Umno’s interest, or the interest of ex-Umno people who no longer have any future in Umno and are now trying to build a new future in PKR.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

When the Umno Malays attack the Chinese from the opposition, they would normally use the word ‘Communist’. To the Umno Malays, any Chinese who opposes Umno is a Communist.

And this is what MP Zahrain Mohd Hashim from PKR called Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng from DAP -- ‘Communist-minded’.

But then, Zahrain is Umno. Okay, maybe now he is in PKR. But that was only very recently. For decades he was in Umno and, furthermore, he was one of the key people in Umno Penang who headed various very important government agencies in the state.

In short, in true Umno fashion, Zahrain was one of the Penang warlords -- and he was so for a great number of years. But Umno warlords, even ex-Umno warlords now in the opposition, no longer carry any weight in Penang. And this must be extremely unsettling for someone like Zahrain, who practically had the power of ‘life and death’ over Penang -- and now has no power to even change the curtains in his office without the approval of ‘dictator’ Lim Guan Eng.

Another thing that is even more upsetting for Umno, even ex-Umno people now in PKR, is that, during the days of the Gerakan state government, it was Umno that called the shots while the Gerakan Chief Minister was merely an Umno running dog and in office merely to serve Umno’s interest.

But Lim Guan Eng is nobody’s running dog. He is not in office to serve Umno’s interest, or the interest of ex-Umno people who no longer have any future in Umno and are now trying to build a new future in PKR.

The ex-Umno people in PKR, in particular those from Penang, will have to learn how to adjust to the new ‘culture’. During the Umno days it was the Chinese who sat on the throne while the Malays were the power behind the throne who manipulated Gerakan and the Chief Minister. All Umno had to do was tell the Chief Minister to jump and he would respond, “How high?"

Lim Guan Eng, however, has a mind of his own. He knows what needs to be done (after all, Penang is the best run state, according to the Auditor-General). He understands the old Umno culture, which invariably has been ‘imported’ into PKR. No one is going to pressure him or blackmail him. He will not allow himself to become a puppet Chief Minister like the Gerakan Chief Minister in the days when Umno was running Penang with Gerakan as its front.

So we lose some ex-Umno people in PKR who decide to go back to Umno because they are no longer warlords like they used to be. Well, so be it. Better they go now even if we see a Perak situation in the other states as well. Spring-cleaning in PKR (and DAP and PAS as well) is long overdue anyway.

I have just about had it with all these ex-Umno people like Hassan Ali, Zulkifli Noordin, Zahrain Mohd Hashim, and many more who have been nothing but a source of problems for PKR and Pakatan Rakyat. If I were to list down the names of people like Ruslan Kassim, Ezam Mohd Nor, Lokman Adam, Rozaid Abdul Rahman, Hanafiah Man, and all those many others who came from Umno into PKR, and then left PKR to rejoin Umno after causing so much problems, this article would probably run into 20 or 30 pages.

It is time we bite the bullet and purge the party, even if we have to use 'undemocratic' methods, or else this nonsense will never end. Maybe Lim Guan Eng can teach us some of his ‘undemocratic’ tactics that we can use in PKR to clean up the party.

***************************************************

Zahrain: Lim is a dictator

PENANG: Dissension within Pakatan Rakyat has spread and the simmering feud between DAP and PKR leaders broke into the open when Bayan Baru MP Datuk Seri Zahrain Mohd Hashim verbally attacked Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.

Describing the DAP secretary-general as a “dictator, a chauvinist and communist-minded”, Zahrain who is the former state PKR chairman, said Pakatan should stop compromising with the leader who is from Malacca as Lim had failed to deliver its general election promises.

Stressing that he was not attacking the DAP, Zahrain said Lim would become a liability to Pakatan in the state if he continued the way he was now.

“Lim does not like to be criticised. He is quick to label those who criticise him as Barisan Nasional agents,” he said. “Even his own party colleagues do not have a say the moment Lim makes up his mind.”

Zahrain said among the election promises that were not kept were the introduction of local council election and an open tender system.

“Lim may be reluctant to push for local council election because it will diminish his power if Penangites use that as an avenue to pass verdict on the state’s performance.

“He also promised an open tender system, but he has made the process worse by personally chairing the tender board,” he said, adding that there was better check and balance during Barisan’s rule.

He said when he criticised Lim for his dictatorial ways of managing the state, he was accused of being an Umno agent.

“I am certainly not an Umno agent. I just do not want to see Pakatan going against its promises,” he said. “It is a shame for Pakatan and its principles when projects are awarded based on who knows who.”

Zahrain said Lim was not suitable to be Penang Chief Minister because he was not a local and did not understand local sentiments.

“He has failed to bring in foreign investments despite travelling all over the world to attract investments,” he said.

“Voters are watching. Penangites are very particular about economic progress.”

Zahrain also questioned why a third of Lim’s speech during the Pakatan convention was in Mandarin.

“As a leader of the Pakatan, he should respect people of all races and speak in a language understood by all.”

The attack by Zahrain comes in the wake of the open defiance of Kulim Bandar Baru MP Zulkifli Noordin against party orders over the ‘Allah’ issue.

This led to a feud bet­ween Zulkifli and PAS’ Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad when the former even lodged a police report against the PAS man.

Zulkifli even challenged his party disciplinary board which let him off with a slap on his wrist but this in turned angered PKR’s political bureau chief Datuk Zaid Ibrahim who had quit as an Umno member, minister and senator to join the party.

Zaid criticised the party for letting off Zulkifli lightly saying it was no more than a poor copy of Umno. - The Star

 

Translated into Chinese at: http://ccliew.blogspot.com/2010/01/blog-post_9643.html

Translated into BM at: http://gomalaysian.blogspot.com/2010/01/raja-petra-guan-eng-diktator-baik-untuk.html