Did we not severely warn you, Zaid?

And we severely warned Zaid that once he is in a party then he must toe the party line. He cannot continue to speak out. He cannot oppose what he considers wrong. If he does, then they will give him a severe warning, if they do not sack him or suspend him instead.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

PKR to let Zaid off with a severe warning

Datuk Zaid Ibrahim will not have to appear before PKR’s disciplinary board, as the body has recommended that the party supreme council member be given a severe warning.

According to a party leader familiar with the disciplinary process, the PKR disciplinary board made the recommendation before the Chinese New Year holidays.

“It is almost certain that the decision will be endorsed by the supreme council as Zaid’s offence is not serious,” a supreme council member said on condition of anonymity, as he is not authorised to discuss the disciplinary board’s findings.

The Kelantanese politican was referred to the disciplinary board late last month along with Kulim Bandar Baharu MP Zulkifli Noordin, Bayan Baru MP Datuk Seri Zahrain Hashim and Nibong Tebal MP Tan Tee Beng.

Zaid, who was de facto law minister in Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s administration in 2008, had openly criticised the party for not taking immediate action against Zulkifli who had lodged a police report against a PAS MP Khalid Samad over the “Allah” row.

“Zaid’s action did not cause major problems to the party or Pakatan, other than the remarks he made, he has largely observed party discipline,” said the party leader.

The former Kota Bahru Umno division chief joined PKR last year to help in formalising the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) coalition and to draw up its common agenda, which led to the inaugural convention in December last year and the launch of its common policy framework. - By Adib Zalkapli The Malaysian Insider

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Yes, Zaid Ibrahim will receive a ‘severe warning’ from Parti Keadilan Rakyat for his ‘crime’ of criticising his own party. He will not be given a show cause letter nor called before the party’s disciplinary board to explain why action should not be taken against him.

Actually, what many may not realise, this is his second ‘severe warning’. The first one he received was about two years ago back in 2008, even before he joined the party. And the first ‘severe warning’ he received was from a few members of the civil society movement cum Bloggers who had lunch with him in the Kuala Lumpur Hilton in KL Sentral.

And we made him pay for the lunch on top of that, even though we had subjected him to the indignity of the ‘severe warning’. This can be considered nothing short of a severe case of adding insult to injury. Or is it adding injury to insult in Zaid’s case? Anyway, in China, they put a bullet in your head and make you pay for the cost of the bullet. So I suppose this can be regarded as ‘Chinese justice’ of sorts.

I was one of those enjoying the free lunch, which, considering my penniless status, I could never afford if I had to pay for it myself. Therefore, since I was present that day, I am fully aware of this first ‘severe warning’ that I am talking about. And it was a most severe ‘severe warning’ indeed.

As you may be aware, we from the civil society movement cum Bloggers do not hold our punches. In fact, we do the opposite. We say it with no holds barred. And it is no coincidence that this column is called No Holds Barred. It is where we call a spade a spade.

I must admit that Anwar Ibrahim is never comfortable with my severe outspokenness. For that matter, neither are the rest of the PKR party leaders. Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, in fact, considers me an eccentric. I really don’t blame her because it is quite true. The Malays would call it tiga suku (direct translation would be ‘three-quarters’ -- or meaning not playing with a full deck of cards) and the Chinese would say tau fung (I think that means ‘crazy wind’ or something like that). I don’t know what the Indians would call it but my best friend in school (Victoria Institution), Rajadurai, used to say mabuk todi (drunk on coconut wine).

Whatever it may be Anwar has finally learned to accept me for what I am. I am what Anwar would consider a necessary evil. Now, whether I should take that as a compliment or otherwise I am still not certain just yet.

I once reminded Wan Azizah that it needs an eccentric or tiga suku person like me to do the job I am currently doing. Who in their sane mind would want to fight against the odds knowing full well that even before you start you are destined to lose miserably? It needs someone not playing with a full deck of cards to embark on such a kamikaze mission of no return.

And I am not alone in this kamikaze venture. Zaid, for all intents and purposes, is another kamikaze individual. Do they not say that birds of a feather flock together? And there are many such birds of our same feather who also share this kamikaze doctrine. And a few of these individuals had lunch with Zaid and me that day in the Kuala Lumpur Hilton in KL Sentral.

If you do not believe that Zaid is what I would consider a loose cannon of kamikaze proportions, why then would he resign from his cushy post as a minister in His Majesty’s government on grounds of principle? Have you ever known of any other Malaysian minister who resigned from his or her post on grounds of principle? Most have had to be kicked out. Even then they refuse to go.

Okay, the reason that Zaid resigned is because he is opposed to the use of the Internal Security Act against political dissenters and Bloggers. But then so are Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Rais Yatim. But Dr Mahathir still sticks with Umno while Rais just ‘changed his mode’, as he is quite fond of doing. Resigning just because your party or the government is doing the wrong thing is a most severe course of action.

Nevertheless, severe or not, Zaid did it. And the opposition leaders applauded him for his principled stand. We need more people like this, screamed the opposition. This is one principled man who stands up for justice and defends what is right and opposes what is wrong, screamed others. Amar maaruf, nahi munkar, said Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, much to the chagrin of Umno who now wants that phrase added to the list of two dozen words that non-Muslims are banned from using. Zaid is one in a million, a man who sacrifices personal interest in the interest of the nation, screamed all and sundry. Zaid dares to tell it like it is and is not scared of saying the right thing, drooled Malaysians who swooned at his feet. Zaid must become the Prime Minister of Malaysia, said some crazy people who thought that a prophet had been sent to Malaysians.

Ah yes, but that is because he spoke out against Umno and the government. He did not speak out against the opposition. If he speaks out against the opposition like he speaks out against Umno and the government then Zaid is a chow lang arsehole.

We who had lunch with Zaid that day in the Kuala Lumpur Hilton in KL Sentral knew better of course. Zaid is not a man who can keep quiet when he sees something wrong being perpetuated. And just like he opposed Umno and the government, he would equally oppose the opposition if they too did the wrong thing.

And we severely warned Zaid about this, the first severe warning he received that I mentioned earlier. Zaid is too vocal for the opposition. He is in fact too vocal for any political party. Since Zaid is now party-less, he should remain party-less, we told him. Form an NGO (non-governmental organisation), we advised. Or even became a NGI (non-governmental individual) like Hishamuddin Rais, we suggested. But do not join any political party.

If you still insist that you continue your fight on a political party platform, then form your own party, we counselled him. Or go join DAP, a party dogged by its ‘Chinese chauvinist’ image, and help turn that party into a truly non-racial Malaysian party. It is the duty of the Malays to help DAP shed its Chinese image and to acquire a new non-racial identity.

But no, Zaid thought he could be of service to PKR. And through PKR he would help strengthen the Pakatan Rakyat opposition coalition and make it truly a marriage of love from its present marriage of convenience -- or rather unmarried status but having an affair with occasional sex thrown in.

And we severely warned Zaid that once he is in a party then he must toe the party line. He cannot continue to speak out. He cannot oppose what he considers wrong. If he does, then they will give him a severe warning, if they do not sack him or suspend him instead.

But Zaid, being Zaid, was adamant. He will give his all and his best to the opposition alliance. He will work towards making Pakatan Rakyat a potent force to be reckoned with. He will put all his effort into offering the voters not only an alternative government but also a better alternative to Barisan Nasional. And much work needs to be done to achieve this.

We disagreed with him. And we severely warned him that we disagreed with him. But we shall support him anyway because we can see he is not only determined about his mission, he is sincere about it as well.

Now Zaid has discovered that the opposition has almost the same culture as the Umno or Barisan Nasional that he abandoned. Actually he did not abandon them but they threw him out for being too outspoken. And the opposition almost threw him out as well for also being too outspoken. Any fool could have told Zaid that all political parties and politicians are the same, never mind which side of the political fence they stand on.

Well, Zaid has now received his second severe warning. He received his first back in 2008 in the Kuala Lumpur Hilton. I suppose this means he has now been given his yellow card. And his next severe warning, which will result in a red card, would mean that Zaid would be sent off the field.

So be warned, Zaid. Don’t later tell us you have not been severely warned. And now you understand what I mean when I say I would rather remain an NGI instead of joining a political party.