tunku |
Is Pakatan Rakyat Losing Control? Posted: 15 Jun 2013 02:46 PM PDT  The signs have been there since just after the elections, though they have accelerated of late. Perhaps the most glaring indication that things had gone amiss was when various Pakatan-aligned NGOs began calling on the Opposition to boycott Parliament. This demand was perfectly reasonable if you believed Pakatan's ridiculous notion that the election was stolen – if the elections were stolen, Parliament is illegitimate, and it is morally and legally wrong to pretend otherwise. It is of course madness of its own sort. The DAP and PAS have long experience in managing the expectations of their aligned elements in civil society, but Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, whose only real influence comes from street protest, fumbled and briefly seemed to endorse the idea. This led to Pakatan Rakyat being – once again – split on an important issue and – once again – in need of a stage-managed climb-down. Poor Tian Chua, Anwar's latest decoy, went to the rakyat to explain that Anwar had only been considering the idea. Pakatan staged a boycott of a more or less meaningless introductory event, and then PKR held an emergency meeting to avoid boycotting the swearing-in. Just as it seemed all of this had finally come under control (with the Bersih 2.0 movement and others grumbling because it seemed as if the Opposition was trying to have matters both ways), another crack in the dam appeared. After a month in which Anwar held illegal rallies but carefully avoided illegal street protests – a fine line on which his newest protégé, Rafizi Ramli, has been dancing of late – Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan is now calling for street protests. Ambiga has been fairly obviously in Pakatan's corner since at least the Opposition pact's convention over a year ago, when she was a prized speaker who lent her credibility to the affair. The wake of Bersih 3.0, which saw a peaceful protest transform into an attack on the police, further dinged her credibility. Yet although not the force she once was, she still commands a great deal of attention and influence, and she is now deviating from the official line. Worse, she is so clearly associated with Pakatan Rakyat that it will be very hard to say that she is not acting on their authority. Pakatan's game of court challenges and carefully managed protests relied on complete control of the process. If they should lose control completely, they will lose any chance they may have of appearing to be a responsible political movement. This is the danger of crying fraud and cheating over every electoral loss. It will be interesting to watch the Opposition trying to manage it. |
Shameless Ambiga’s Final Salvo Off Her Sinking Ship Posted: 15 Jun 2013 09:44 AM PDT  But she has truly outdone herself with her self-serving and harmful calls for the rakyat to take to the streets for the sake of her publicly-stated cause – poll reform – and her unstated cause – her ego – which has grown gargantuan with every public spectacle to date. "Our fight for electoral reform will continue. Our People's Tribunal will proceed," she said, referring to her latest creation, the so-called "People's Tribunals", which will sit in belated judgement of GE13. This means Ambiga and her friends on her panel will be looking back into the past while Datuk Seri Najib Razak's Parliamentary committee will be looking ahead - reforming the Election Commission like never before in its history. It will assemble with MPs from both sides of politics and will hear carefully weighted submissions in an open forum. It will then make recommendations to the Government that will prove no Malaysian institution is immune from the forces of transformation. Can Ambiga's little stunt team deliver that? Not a chance. But back to her latest plans. Ambiga says public protest could be the way forward because "protest may be the only option". As usual, her position is wrong for so many reasons. Firstly, she is out of step with popular sentiment. As Datuk Seri Anwar's Ibrahim's flagging campaign to discredit GE13 is proving; the public want to move on. And so do the MPs who aren't interested in a boycott of the swearing in ceremony – yet another half-baked protest idea that is failing to gain traction. The next thing is Ambiga is failing to realise is that she is not the same force for mass action that she used to be. Last year her infamous 8T concert drew just 500 people and this year her "dirtiest election ever" prophecy fell flat when Pakatan Rakyat made gains at GE13. Opposition parties don't make gains in dirty elections. Worse still her old friend Karpal Singh undermined her cause when he announced that that Government's voting reforms "look alright". One has to question Ambiga's motives for such a lame last stand. Perhaps she is already missing the limelight and knows the way to get her name back in the news is to shakes thing up in this way by fomenting revolt. Make no mistake that if you turn up to one of her protests you are stroking her ego and undermining our democracy at the same time. It's time to go Ambiga! You promised us you'd leave Bersih behind so please live up to that promise and disappear. Malaysia has moved on – something you are clearly unable to do. Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan was never going to make a quiet, or for that matter a dignified exit from her largely superfluous Bersih movement. But she has truly outdone herself with her self-serving and harmful calls for the rakyat to take to the streets for the sake of her publicly-stated cause – poll reform – and her unstated cause – her ego – which has grown gargantuan with every public spectacle to date. "Our fight for electoral reform will continue. Our People's Tribunal will proceed," she said, referring to her latest creation, the so-called "People's Tribunals", which will sit in belated judgement of GE13. This means Ambiga and her friends on her panel will be looking back into the past while Datuk Seri Najib Razak's Parliamentary committee will be looking ahead - reforming the Election Commission like never before in its history. It will assemble with MPs from both sides of politics and will hear carefully weighted submissions in an open forum. It will then make recommendations to the Government that will prove no Malaysian institution is immune from the forces of transformation. Can Ambiga's little stunt team deliver that? Not a chance. But back to her latest plans. Ambiga says public protest could be the way forward because "protest may be the only option". As usual, her position is wrong for so many reasons. Firstly, she is out of step with popular sentiment. As Datuk Seri Anwar's Ibrahim's flagging campaign to discredit GE13 is proving; the public want to move on. And so do the MPs who aren't interested in a boycott of the swearing in ceremony – yet another half-baked protest idea that is failing to gain traction. The next thing is Ambiga is failing to realise is that she is not the same force for mass action that she used to be. Last year her infamous 8T concert drew just 500 people and this year her "dirtiest election ever" prophecy fell flat when Pakatan Rakyat made gains at GE13. Opposition parties don't make gains in dirty elections. Worse still her old friend Karpal Singh undermined her cause when he announced that that Government's voting reforms "look alright". One has to question Ambiga's motives for such a lame last stand. Perhaps she is already missing the limelight and knows the way to get her name back in the news is to shakes thing up in this way by fomenting revolt. Make no mistake that if you turn up to one of her protests you are stroking her ego and undermining our democracy at the same time. It's time to go Ambiga! You promised us you'd leave Bersih behind so please live up to that promise and disappear. Malaysia has moved on – something you are clearly unable to do.Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan was never going to make a quiet, or for that matter a dignified exit from her largely superfluous Bersih movement. But she has truly outdone herself with her self-serving and harmful calls for the rakyat to take to the streets for the sake of her publicly-stated cause – poll reform – and her unstated cause – her ego – which has grown gargantuan with every public spectacle to date. "Our fight for electoral reform will continue. Our People's Tribunal will proceed," she said, referring to her latest creation, the so-called "People's Tribunals", which will sit in belated judgement of GE13. This means Ambiga and her friends on her panel will be looking back into the past while Datuk Seri Najib Razak's Parliamentary committee will be looking ahead - reforming the Election Commission like never before in its history. It will assemble with MPs from both sides of politics and will hear carefully weighted submissions in an open forum. It will then make recommendations to the Government that will prove no Malaysian institution is immune from the forces of transformation. Can Ambiga's little stunt team deliver that? Not a chance. But back to her latest plans. Ambiga says public protest could be the way forward because "protest may be the only option". As usual, her position is wrong for so many reasons. Firstly, she is out of step with popular sentiment. As Datuk Seri Anwar's Ibrahim's flagging campaign to discredit GE13 is proving; the public want to move on. And so do the MPs who aren't interested in a boycott of the swearing in ceremony – yet another half-baked protest idea that is failing to gain traction. The next thing is Ambiga is failing to realise is that she is not the same force for mass action that she used to be. Last year her infamous 8T concert drew just 500 people and this year her "dirtiest election ever" prophecy fell flat when Pakatan Rakyat made gains at GE13. Opposition parties don't make gains in dirty elections. Worse still her old friend Karpal Singh undermined her cause when he announced that that Government's voting reforms "look alright". One has to question Ambiga's motives for such a lame last stand. Perhaps she is already missing the limelight and knows the way to get her name back in the news is to shakes thing up in this way by fomenting revolt. Make no mistake that if you turn up to one of her protests you are stroking her ego and undermining our democracy at the same time. It's time to go Ambiga! You promised us you'd leave Bersih behind so please live up to that promise and disappear. Malaysia has moved on – something you are clearly unable to do. - See more at: http://www.thechoice.my/top-stories/64900-shameless-ambigas-final-salvo-off-her-sinking-ship#sthash.cxo1a1BT.dpuf Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan was never going to make a quiet, or for that matter a dignified exit from her largely superfluous Bersih movement. But she has truly outdone herself with her self-serving and harmful calls for the rakyat to take to the streets for the sake of her publicly-stated cause – poll reform – and her unstated cause – her ego – which has grown gargantuan with every public spectacle to date. "Our fight for electoral reform will continue. Our People's Tribunal will proceed," she said, referring to her latest creation, the so-called "People's Tribunals", which will sit in belated judgement of GE13. This means Ambiga and her friends on her panel will be looking back into the past while Datuk Seri Najib Razak's Parliamentary committee will be looking ahead - reforming the Election Commission like never before in its history. It will assemble with MPs from both sides of politics and will hear carefully weighted submissions in an open forum. It will then make recommendations to the Government that will prove no Malaysian institution is immune from the forces of transformation. Can Ambiga's little stunt team deliver that? Not a chance. But back to her latest plans. Ambiga says public protest could be the way forward because "protest may be the only option". As usual, her position is wrong for so many reasons. Firstly, she is out of step with popular sentiment. As Datuk Seri Anwar's Ibrahim's flagging campaign to discredit GE13 is proving; the public want to move on. And so do the MPs who aren't interested in a boycott of the swearing in ceremony – yet another half-baked protest idea that is failing to gain traction. The next thing is Ambiga is failing to realise is that she is not the same force for mass action that she used to be. Last year her infamous 8T concert drew just 500 people and this year her "dirtiest election ever" prophecy fell flat when Pakatan Rakyat made gains at GE13. Opposition parties don't make gains in dirty elections. Worse still her old friend Karpal Singh undermined her cause when he announced that that Government's voting reforms "look alright". One has to question Ambiga's motives for such a lame last stand. Perhaps she is already missing the limelight and knows the way to get her name back in the news is to shakes thing up in this way by fomenting revolt. Make no mistake that if you turn up to one of her protests you are stroking her ego and undermining our democracy at the same time. It's time to go Ambiga! You promised us you'd leave Bersih behind so please live up to that promise and disappear. Malaysia has moved on – something you are clearly unable to do. - See more at: http://www.thechoice.my/top-stories/64900-shameless-ambigas-final-salvo-off-her-sinking-ship#sthash.cxo1a1BT.dpuf |
| You are subscribed to email updates from tunku To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |