Excitement over Gobind, Karpal and Ali

by Zainon Ahmad

GOBIND Singh Deo (DAP-Puchong) was suspended on Monday by the Dewan Rakyat for a year for calling Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak a murderer but reference to the decision punctuated much of the debates throughout the week.

Discussion on that and on two events outside the House – the sedition charges brought against his father, Karpal Singh (DAP-Bukit Gelugor), and the travails of Malacca Chief Minister Datuk Seri Ali Rustam – raised the temperature of the House as members abused their counterparts across the floor.

They generated a lot of excitement and this caused the Dewan Rakyat, its lobby and Members Lounge included, to become such a happening place that it attracted more visitors to the national legislature than previously. Finding a parking spot in the morning was like winning a lottery.

Sitting in the public gallery, the visitors would not take long to notice that there are more shouters than debaters. Of course there are those like Datuk Dr James Dawos Mamit (BN-Mambong) and Dr Dzulkifli Ahmad (PAS-Kuala Selangor) who come prepared with notes like veteran Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur) who is never without his notes, newspaper cuttings and even reference books whenever it is his turn to speak.

But except for the numbers, little has changed. Of course, where the BN side could shout down any attempt by the other side to raise their voices before March 8, 2008, the roar that comes from the opposition pews now is equally powerful, if not more so. This was the case during the debate on the motion to ban Gobind from the House for a year without allowances and benefits for his unparliamentary behaviour last Thursday which included shouting “you should be ashamed of yourself” to deputy speaker Datuk Ronald Kiandee when ordered to leave the House.

There were lots of shouting especially when Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz was rounding up the debate on the motion. All the opposition members stood up and shouted, and for a few minutes drowned out Nazri before they walked out.

Kit Siang, who appeared rather subdued since the meeting began in February, was his ebullient self again during the debate on the economic stimulus package presented by Najib, who is also finance minister.

But the package was more an excuse as he had other bones to pick with the government. For instance, on Tuesday, he told the House that the charges brought against Karpal, his party chairman, was “a politically motivated persecution”, a victim of “the addictive politics” that the ruling BN is involved in.

And old campaigner, he pegged his railings against the government, BN and Umno to their failure – due to too much politicking – to rally the people to unite to face the economic turmoil that the country is facing.

Still, when he brought up the subject of money politics in Umno, a number of BN MPs stood up to question the relevance of what he was saying to the stimulus package. He easily side-stepped them and went on to say that money politics in Umno was the worst this year.

When he brought up the subject of Malacca Chief Minister Ali, several BN members tried to prevent him from continuing by asking for its relevance to the stimulus package.

When he asked whether a man who has been found guilty of money politics and barred by the party to contest in the party election could continue to be chief minister, those behind him in a thunderous roar said “tak boleh.” He was unstoppable. Mohd Nor Othman (BN-Hulu Terengganu) tried. Datuk Ahmad Hamzah (BN-Jasin) also tried when he stood up to protest Kit Siang’s reference to Ali saying that the chief minister was not involved in corruption but had merely violated some ethics of Umno.

The DAP strongman even went into details of how money is solicited and offered, saying the whole process of money politics in Umno had produced its own nomenclature.

For instance he said when someone asked whether it was sekolah kebangsaan and sekolah Inggeris, he actually meant SK or SI which are abbreviations for salam kosong or salam isi which mean “empty handshake” or “handshake with something inside”. The whole house reverberated with laughter especially when he said satu tiang, or one pillar means, a hundred ringgit and dua tiang means two hundred ringgit. Tiang sri, or main pillar, means a thousand ringgit.

Outside the House the excitement was palpable as press conferences are held to clarify what has been insufficiently explained about a topic or a stand or to counter earlier statements to the press. Again Gobind, Karpal and Ali were the subjects with Ali being the hottest. He was neck and neck with International Trade and Industry Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin in the race to be deputy Umno president, with Rural and Regional Development Minister Senator Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib a distant third.

A backlash against the decision to bar Ali is forecasted by the wags in the Members Lounge and when they saw the senator in the lobby on Wednesday they nudged each other and whispered: “Behold, our next deputy prime minister.”