Back in 1999, I only wanted ABU, anything but Umno, although ‘ABU’ was not coined yet then. I did not care how we played the game as long as we won, by fair or foul means. In 2004, we discovered that ABU was not enough. In the 2004 General Election, the opposition got whacked good and proper. That was the worst performance for the opposition in Malaysia’s election history.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

PKR Selangor tak puas hati dengan kerajaan negeri berkenaan isu perletakkan jawatan Latheefa Koya

(The Malaysian Insider) - Majlis Pimpinan Negeri (MPN) bagi PKR negeri Selangor tidak berpuas hati dengan tindakan kerajaan negeri yang tidak berunding dengan mereka berhubung isu peletakan jawatan Latheefa Koya sebagai ahli majlis Majlis Bandaraya Petaling Jaya.

“Kami kecewa atas kerajaan negeri yang mengambil tindakan sendiri tanpa berunding dengan pimpinan PKR Selangor,” kata Zuraidah Kamaruddin yang merupakan Timbalan Pengerusi MPN bagi negeri Selangor.

Katanya lagi, Latheefa Koya telah memainkan peranan penting dalam memacu budaya politik baru di dalam parti dan Pihak Berkuasa Tempatan (PBT).

Latheefa Koya mengesahkan telah menghantar surat perletakkan jawatan yang berkuat kuasa serta merta apabila dihubungi oleh The Malaysian Insider semalam.

“Sah, saya sudah letak jawatan. Selebihnya saya tak mahu komen,” kata Latheefa.

Surat perletakan jawatan yang dikirim melalui email kepada The Malaysian Insider semalam menyatakan perletakan jawatan disebabkan oleh tindakan Latheefa menghantar email kepada pimpinan tertinggi PKR yang mempersoalkan MB Selangor berkenaan perumahan rakyat miskin dan tidak berkaitan dengan hal MBPJ.

“Berhubung perkara sama, kami ingin menasihat kerajaan negeri Selangor supaya lebih terbuka dengan kritikan terutama kerahsiaan dalam hal ini,” kata Zuraidah yang juga merupakan ahli parlimen Ampang.

Latheefa semalam melepaskan jawatannya selaku ahli majlis bagi Majlis Bandaraya Petaling Jaya (MBPJ) selepas difahamkan beliau akan disingkirkan dari jawatan tersebut.

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It was in early 1999. Anwar Ibrahim’s classmate from MCKK, Haji Hamid, phoned me and asked to meet in his office in Ampang. He did not tell me what the meeting was about and more out of curiosity than any other reason I went for the meeting.

Haji Hamid told me that Parti Keadilan Nasional (now called Parti Keadilan Rakyat or PKR) was planning to set up a media unit (or rather a propaganda unit to be called ‘Research and Development Unit’) and they were looking for someone to head it.

Haji Hamid explained that they had submitted a list of names to Anwar but Anwar had rejected all the names and had asked for me instead. My name was not on that list, added Haji Hamid, and he could not understand why Anwar asked for me when I was known to be most critical of Anwar.

I had written a few ‘nasty’ articles about Anwar in the PAS party newspaper, Harakah. In fact, many Anwaristas, Haji Hamid included, were quite angry about it and for the life of him he could not understand why Anwar wanted me to head the new media unit. After all, my name was not even on the list.

After a bit of negotiations as to my job function and salary, it was agreed that I would start work once the new party headquarters in Phileo Damansara was ready, due to be completed the following month.

Haji Hamid then asked me whether I had signed up as a Parti Keadilan Nasional member. I did attend the launch of the party at the Renaissance Hotel on 4th April that same year but I did not sign up as a member, I replied. In fact, I had just submitted my application to become a member of PAS and was awaiting the approval of my application.

Haji Hamid told me the party could not possibly employ me to head the media unit if I was not a party member. I would have to withdraw my application to join PAS and join Parti Keadilan instead. That would have to be one of the terms of my employment.

I did as I was told and subsequently started work until about a couple of days after the 29th November 1999 General Election, after which my services was terminated. Basically, Haji Hamid and I could not get along on many issues and he was quite happy to see my exit. In fact, if not because of the general elections, he would have sacked me much earlier.

During my brief seven months or so stint with the party, I had many a session with the party Deputy President, Dr Chandra Muzaffar, regarding the party ‘culture’. Dr Chandra wanted to ‘sort me out’ and ‘set me straight’. As head of the media unit (or propaganda unit) I had to understand where the party was coming from. And, apparently, I was violating everything that the party stood for.

We must practice ‘Politik Baru’ or ‘New Politics’, explained Dr Chandra. I replied that politics and not prostitution is the oldest profession in the world. Hence ‘Politik Baru’ is an oxymoron. It is as oxymoron as ‘military intelligence’ or ‘virgin prostitute’. Since when does the military have any intelligence or if you are a prostitute how can you be a virgin?

Politics is about exploitation, manipulation, deception, and the ends justifying the means. A ‘good’ politician has to be Machiavellian. ‘Politik Baru’ does not work. We need to be good at ‘Politik Lama’.

Dr Chandra sighed and said that it is people like me who give politics a bad name. What I was talking about describes Barisan Nasional and Umno politics, added Dr Chandra. Parti Keadilan needs to be different. Parti Keadilan needs to be better than Barisan Nasional and Umno. Hence Parti Keadilan needs to practice ‘Politik Baru’.

In November 1999, in the run-up to the general elections, I threw TV3 out of the press conference and banned them from coming to the party office. This was reported on TV3 with footage of me physically throwing the TV3 reporters and cameramen out of the office.

The party was furious. I was practically removed from the daily press conferences and the Chairman, the late Rustam Sani, threatened to resign if the party could not control me. I was told to just sit there and shut the fuck up or else take a walk. Parti Keadilan practices media freedom and by throwing TV3 out of the office I was violating this very basic and very important principle of freedom of the media and freedom of expression.

So what if TV3 was the enemy? So what if TV3 runs news that is not complementary to the opposition? Freedom of the media and freedom of expression means we have to respect all opinions, even those we are opposed to. That is the real meaning of freedom of the media and freedom of expression.

Soon after the general election we launched the ‘Boikot TV3, NST and Utusan’ campaign. Again, the party opposed that campaign. The opposition, at that time called Barisan Alternatif, refused to have anything to do with that campaign and distanced itself from it.

There were other incidences where the party overruled my decision, like when we banned the mainstream media from covering the party annual assembly. I was told to lift the ban and to allow the mainstream media into the hall.

The last straw was in 2004, soon after I started Malaysia Today. This was during the party’s annual assembly in Ipoh, the first one that Anwar Ibrahim attended, not long after he was released from jail on 2nd September 2004. I was then with Berita Keadilan, the party newspaper, and Datuk Kamarul Baharin Abbas ordered me to run a special report with two pages of colour photographs of Anwar in the centrefold.

As I was taking photographs of Anwar one of his bodyguards shoved me aside. I hit the bodyguard and he was about to engage me in a punch-up when Anwar and Dr Wan Azizah screamed and told us to stop fighting. The bodyguard backed off but I still wanted to punch him. Anwar pleaded with me, “Pet, Pet, don’t fight.” Anwar then ordered his bodyguards to step aside and allow me to take the photographs. “He is only doing his job,” said Anwar.

I shouted at Anwar, “If you don’t want us to take your photographs then cover your head with a blanket.” I then walked over to Datuk Kamarul and immediately resigned from Berita Keadilan. Datuk Kamarul told me to calm down. “Let’s discuss the matter,” said Datuk Kamarul. I shouted at him, “Fuck Anwar! Fuck the party. I am out of here. There is nothing to discuss.”

I then jumped into my car and drove back to KL. As far as I was concerned I had washed my hands of Anwar and the party. I, of course, also did not renew my membership with Parti Keadilan.

From then on my articles in Malaysia Today were very critical of Anwar. There was even an anti-Anwar column called Batu Giling where Anwar was whacked good and proper. Datuk Kamarul was not too happy with this and he said I was being very unfair towards Anwar, so I eventually closed down that column.

In 2006-2007, when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had problems with Umno and launched his attack on Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, I aligned myself to Dr Mahathir. After all, we shared a common interest -- to see Abdullah ousted and to see Barisan Nasional get whacked in the coming general election expected some time in 2008.

In 2007, I was involved in Bersih 1.0, which was a roaring success. Even my friends in Umno supported Bersih 1.0. Some even provided us with caps and T-shirts.

In 2008, Ronnie Liu requested my help to campaign for him and DAP, which I agreed. Visu, Nurul Izzah Anwar’s campaign manager, approached me and asked me to also help campaign for Nurul. I replied that I only campaign for DAP. I had even turned down requests from PAS to speak at their ceramah.

Visu then spoke to Bangsar Bala who asked me to speak at Nurul Izzah’s ceramah. Because of Bala I agreed and did, in fact, speak at a few ceramah in Brickfields, Bangsar and Lembah Pantai. But I told Bala that I was doing this for him and not for Nurul because I want nothing to do with PKR. My ‘loyalty’ is only to DAP. (Of course, that has since changed. I am now supportive of Nurul Izzah as well, though not to PKR or her father).

What Zuraidah Kamaruddin said regarding Latheefa Koya, reported in The Malaysian Insider news item above, prompted me to write this article today. I am referring to the part where Zuraidah said, “Latheefa Koya telah memainkan peranan penting dalam memacu budaya politik baru di dalam parti dan Pihak Berkuasa Tempatan.”

Yes, Zuraidah was talking about the importance of ‘Politik Baru’ in the party. That was what Dr Chandra lectured me about back in 1999. And that was what I resisted and why I was eventually sacked soon after the November 1999 General Election -- because I did not respect and practice ‘Politik Baru’.

Back in 1999, I only wanted ABU, anything but Umno, although ‘ABU’ was not coined yet then. I did not care how we played the game as long as we won, by fair or foul means. In 2004, we discovered that ABU was not enough. In the 2004 General Election, the opposition got whacked good and proper. That was the worst performance for the opposition in Malaysia’s election history.

If ABU was enough we would not have done so badly in 2004. We needed to do more. And in 2008 we did more. We managed to win the hearts and minds of the voters by taking the moral high ground. We showed the voters how we can be better than Umno and Barisan Nasional.

And the voters accepted what we were ‘selling’. The voters agreed that we need accountability, transparency, good governance, etc. And by voting opposition they would get that. This is not just about kicking out the government. It is about getting a better government. And the voters liked what we were saying. And the 2008 General Election result proved this.

The question is, what are we ‘selling’ to the voters for the coming general election? And do the voters accept what we are ‘selling’? Is Pakatan Rakyat going to retain the seats it won in 2008? Is the opposition going to, in fact, see an increase in seats?

I don’t know. But I am going to continue to hammer this point home. Are we still talking about ‘Politik Baru’, like what Zuraidah said in the news item above? Or have we reverted to ‘Politik Lama’? And if what the voters see is just the same old politics; old wine in a new bottle; can the opposition repeat or better its 2008 General Election performance?

And if you do not understand what I am talking about then Pakatan Rakyat deserves to lose the coming general election and I, for one, will not mourn this loss. That is the long and short of it all and I do not know how I can make this message any simpler.