Khalid & Azmin, minta jawab segera - Jaspal Singh Gill

Dua hari lalu saya telah menulis tentang dilemma yang saya hadapi untuk memutuskan mana satu untuk diundi pada pilihanraya yang akan datang – BN atau PR?

Hari ini, dakwaan telah dibuat melalui sebuah portal berita internet tempatan bahawa kerajaan negeri Selangor yang diterajui oleh PR telah meluluskan tanpa tender satu kontrak bernilai berjuta ringgit kepada sebuah syarikat yang tidak mempunyai track record untuk membangunkan sekeping tanah di Petaling Jaya. Juga didakwa syarikat itu mempunyai hubungan rapat dengan YB Azmin Ali, ahli dewan undangan negeri Hulu Kelang yang juga timbalan presiden PKR dan beliau telah mendesak YAB Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, menteri besar Selangor, untuk memberi kontrak itu kepada syarikat tersebut.

Ini adalah dakwaan-dakwaan yang amat serius. YAB Khalid and YB Azmin mempunyai kewajipan untuk memberi jawapan dan penjelasan dengan serta merta. Keikhlasan mereka untuk menegakkan integriti, kebertanggungjawaban dan ketelusan kerajaan negeri, PKR dan PR sekarang menjadi bahan persoalan.

Saya berharap kedua-duanya tidak akan membisu sebagaimana parti mereka telah membisu apabila ditimbulkan dakwaan oleh ahli-ahli parti mereka sendiri berkaitan kepincangan pemilihan parti. Berdiam diri sedemikian hanya akan menambahkan kejelakan terhadap PKR.

Saya juga berharap parti-parti rakan, PAS dan DAP, akan mendesak kerajaan negeri Selangor untuk menjawab dakwaan-dakwaan terbaru ini. Desakan sedemikian adalah wajar sekiranya benar PR adalah gabungan sama rata antara parti-parti rakan.

Tidak ada gunanya berjanji untuk reformasi itu dan reformasi ini dalam tempoh 100 hari jika dipilih membentuk kerajaan federal sekiranya suatu perkara yang seratus-peratus di bawah tanggungjawab kerajaan negeri, seperti isu ini, lembab dan keberatan untuk ditangani oleh PR.

Saya harap kerajaan negeri Selangor atau YAB Khalid atau YB Azmin akan memberi penjelasan sebelum Hari Krismas. Sekiranya tidak, maka saya beserta keluarga dan sahabat handai akan mengambil keputusan untuk tidak mengundi PR pada pilihanraya yang akan datang.

Para pengundi sedang menyaksi – dan menunggu.


JASPAL SINGH GILL

Khalid & Azmin, please respond immediately - Jaspal Singh Gill

Only two days ago I had written about the dilemma that I have as an ordinary voter in deciding between BN or PR in the next general elections.

Today, it has been alleged through a local internet news portal that, first, the PR state government of Selangor has awarded without open tender a multi-million ringgit contract to develop a piece of Petaling Jaya land to a company with no known track record of property development and, second, the company is associated with the state assemblyman for Hulu Kelang, YB Azmin Ali who is also the deputy president of PKR and, third, YB Azmin had pressured the Selangor menteri besar, YAB Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, to award the contract to the said company.

These are very serious allegations. YAB Khalid and YB Azmin have an obligation to respond to them without delay. Their sincerity about upholding the integrity, accountability and transparency of the state government, PKR and PR are at stake here.

I hope neither one would stonewall these allegations the way their party did to accusations by party members of irregularities in their recent internal elections. Such reticence would only cause more disenchantment with PKR.

I also hope its coalition partners, PAS and DAP, would prod the state government to reply to the allegations. Such prodding is the right thing to do if PR is truly a coalition of equals.

There is no point in promising to do this or that reform within 100 days of being elected the federal government if PR drags its feet over a matter, such as this, which is fully under the responsibility of a PR state government.

I hope the state government or YAB Khalid or YB Azmin will give an explanation before Christmas. Otherwise, I together with my family and friends will decide not to give our votes to PR in the next general elections.

The voters are watching.



JASPAL SINGH GILL

Cross your ballot and then your fingers? - Jaspal Singh Gill

The recent Pakatan Rakyat (PR) convention has unveiled a list of ten items that a PR government would accomplish within its first 100 days of governing the country. And what a welcomed list of it is. Most, if not all, of those items are good things; very desirable things that no one would argue against. You’d be a fool to do so.

However, upon greater reflection, you can’t help but feel you’d be a bigger fool to decide here and now to give your vote to them solely on account of what they promise to do. They are after all politicians on a campaign and we all know the thing about campaign promises – they’re not worth the paper they are written on.

But what I found particularly risible is that one of the political parties making the promise of institutional reforms is PKR which since March 2008 has shown itself barely able to keep its own house in order.

The party’s own recent internal elections had been so poorly conducted it has become a showcase of sham and shambles. This was compounded by the less than enlightened attitude of the party towards those within its fold who criticised and highlighted the flaws in the process; so much so that one frustrated candidate decided to abandon contest and party altogether.

Apart from vote-rigging, leakage of ballot papers, furtive pressure on some unfavoured candidates to withdraw, among other reports of abuses in the party elections, there was even an alleged case of letter forgery with the intent of nullifying a member’s nomination to contest. With all these examples of either malice or incompetence now in public awareness, the party has the cheek to hold itself out to be the one eminently suited to undertake the reform of the nation’s vital institutions. If there is one thing that the PKR elections ought to teach all of us is that good intentions alone is not enough to bring the outcome that we want.

Many will of course argue that the incumbent BN government is a prime example of poor governance and ought to be voted out no matter what. Maybe so except that the alternative, especially PKR, has quite amply shown itself prone to poor governance even before it has taken over the reins of government, what more if it became the government.

To believe that there is no alternative to BN would be to give it full license to perpetuate the abuse of its mandate but to believe that PR, especially PKR, ought to be voted in no matter what, is to give full license to it to ignore its own flaws and shortcomings. There is no surer way to turn it into another Umno/BN once it is in power. Therein lies the dilemma for the non-politically affiliated voters amongst us.

There is the counter-argument that if PR is not up to the mark whilst in government, we, the voters, can always vote it out come the next general elections. Such an argument is based on the premise that Malaysia is a ‘perfect’ democracy. That is a premise not borne out by what has been observed of both the governing and opposition parties in action.

It is indeed a tough call and the last thing I would want to do is swallow the PR pledge of ‘100-day’ reforms hook, line and sinker.



JASPAL SINGH GILL