Wednesday 10 November 2010

‘BLACK HAWK DOWN,’ BUT NOT OUT



Dear Editor,

WITH the unending problems happening within PKR, a majority of political fence sitters are looking towards SAPP as the capable party to shake the Sabah BN in the coming 13th GE despite the poor performance by its party president in the recent Batu Sapi by-election.

This is the reality in Sabah. With the mainstream media painting a very dark picture of the situation in PKR, it is only logic that the voters are afraid of supporting the party which is proving to be a failed member of the uprising Pakatan Rakyat.

At the same time, the BN is telling the people not to support PKR as it is not practicing what it preaches. The word KeADILan only exist in name but it does not happen in terms of party issues and elections.

Those of high positions in PKR will defend their actions by claiming that there are unwanted individuals or Trojan Horses who are only there to destroy the party. On the other side of the ring we have the unhappy leaders claiming that the leadership elite are controlling the positions and are rigging party elections to ensure that only those closely aligned to Datuk Seri Anwar will be divisional heads, vice presidents, and so on.

The reality to this is no matter what party whether in the BN or Pakatan, Republicans or Democrats, this is Politics. Even UMNO, MCA, and MIC have been divided before. Can we say that there will be no problems if we have a party called the Ultimate Justice and Democratic Party of Malaysia? The answer is no.

I am a strong PKR supporter and I must admit that there are individuals in the party that are only in for personal gains. Everyone wants to be party president, deputy president, vice president and etc to build their foundation and influence in the party hoping to be comfortable should Pakatan Rakyat topple the BN in the next GE without realizing that this is actually damaging PKR and Pakatan Rakyat all together.

My friends in SAPP, UMNO, and GERAKAN mock and taunt me for supporting PKR. They tell me that I should instead convince the people to support the BN or SAPP and immediately abandon the campaign to promote Pakatan Rakyat.

This I will not do. I urge the top leadership in PKR to settle the issues concerning the party, and as for the said victims of injustice within PKR to be strong. Justice can be delayed but it cannot be denied. SAPP is using the internal problems in PKR to their advantage by accepting disgruntled members. Time is not on our side, we need to act now. The 13th GE is coming soon and it is now or never to capture Sabah and Malaysia.

For every Sabahan that is reading this now, we must change the State Government in the next GE and I urge that we support Pakatan Rakyat. The problems in PKR are only minor; it is not like what the media paints it to be. For the disillusioned members of PKR, the situation now is Black Hawk Down, however, PKR needs our support and we should not just abandon it when faced with petty issues.

To my hardcore friends of SAPP, I have said enough. It is your right to support SAPP and you are to defend your party because I am moving on the ground to entice voters which have only SAPP or the BN as their choice.

The silent campaign is bumpy at the moment, but it is challenges like these that make us stronger. I urge Datuk Zaid Ibrahim to consider all options before leaving PKR. If you feel that you have no place in PKR, there is always a place for you in Pakatan Rakyat. Datuk Zaid mentioned in his press statement that Datuk Seri Anwar failed on the September 16th attempt, and failed to keep the Perak Opposition intact by allowing his own MP’s to jump ship.

I have to disagree with you on this Datuk Zaid. My personal opinion on this is, the September 16th planned exodus of BN MP’s crossing over to Pakatan was meant to fail. If it happened, it was to be an advantage to us. However, we lost Perak due to the crossover of our own ADUNs. It is the same subject Datuk Zaid, the only difference is one benefits us and the other doesn’t.

Crossovers after elections will only point out who the real opportunist are in politics. I respect you for leaving UMNO having based your decision on principles and I am not too quick to see you as an UMNO mole, but I personally feel that you must be consistent in your struggles.

I also urge Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan to continue the struggle for Sabah and stay with PKR. There are factions, but one needs to give in if we really are fighting for the people of Sabah. Despite people saying that he is greedy for power I would not be quick to judge. If this is really the case, he could have formed his own political party long ago with the support he has.

I could be wrong, I don’t know. These are just my personal opinions. Unity in PKR must also exist in Sabah. We cannot have factions here and consistently depend on the top leadership to choose sides. That is not autonomy which we have been harping for.

The news on the ground now is a majority of the people are keener on SAPP. We need to pull up our socks and ensure that the mighty BN is challenged on straight fight basis. The worst scenario will be SAPP still wanting to rough it out alone. If that happens, then this will be one of the greatest political battles in Sabah’s history. The silent campaign continues.

Regards,

GABRIEL DOMINIC

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