By Stephanie Sta MariaPETALING JAYA: PKR delegates at the party's national congress today showed no mercy in bashing party detractors whom they called “the lowest form of mankind”.
Since last year, five members of parliament and three assemblymen defected from the party in protest of its leadership.
The latest member to leave was former PKR Federal Territories chief Zaid Ibrahim who resigned last week. Prior to his resignation, he also withdrew from the race for deputy presidency citing dissatisfaction with the manner in which the elections were managed.
Perlis delegate Tengku Nazri Tengku Din was the harshest in his condemnation of these defectors.
“They are despicable,” he declared. “In future, we need to be more discerning in choosing members who are truly want to stand with us in both good times and bad.”
Malacca PKR delegate, Yusof Abdullah, meanwhile, demanded that future party members be vetted more closely to ensure that they were not bringing a hidden agenda into the party.
He emphasised, however, that such measures were not aimed at discouraging new membership.
“We will always welcome new members but we need to take into account the impact of their
presence in the party,” he explained. “We should take recent events as a lesson so we don't find ourselves in a non-conducive situation again.”“We also need a mechanism that enables us to test and evaluate a member's loyalty over a period of time. During that period, these members should not be allowed to run for or hold any party positions. They must also understand the fundamentals of the party's struggles.”
Sarawak delegate Ahmad Nazib Johari took an indirect swipe at Zaid when he expressed remorse over “immature party members who fault the central election committee (CEC) when they realise that they are losing the elections”.
“They start pointing accusing fingers at other quarters when in fact they had not made any effort to strengthen the party,” he said. “We cannot compromise with characters who oppose the party.”
Delegates voice concern over complaints
Concerns over the alleged irregularities in the party election process also surfaced, with delegates issuing both warnings and advice to the top leadership on the matter.
Earlier today, PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution said that the CEC had received a total of 289 complaints as of Nov 25 and promised that every single one would be thoroughly investigated.
But Perak delegate Zulkifli Ibrahim questioned outright the extent of the CEC's power in managing the election process and investigating the complaints.
“Is the committee fully empowered to ensure clean and fair elections?” he asked. “Have all the complaints been accepted? Is it true that the CEC lacks manpower to conduct proper investigations? I have lodged three complaints myself and none have been addressed so far.”
“Since we criticise the Election Commission, we should be setting an example of clean and fair elections. This is not a trivial issue but a grave one that needs to be handled appropriately by the new leadership. Whatever investigations that have begun must continue even after the congress is over.”
PKR Youth delegate Lee Khai Loon echoed Zulkifli's sentiments and put forth his recommendations for future elections. “All candidates should sign a code of ethics,” he proposed. “They may not adhere to the code completely but at least it will spark an awareness within them.”
“There should also be limit on the campaign expenditure which will reduce money politics in elections. This will assure the people that candidates were elected based on their worthiness and not their wealth.”
Zulkifli, however, softened towards the end of his speech and gave the party due recognition for its efforts in conducting the historic direct elections.
“It is the most democratic election by far,” he said. “The party has been pounded by criticism but should also be praised for its commendable efforts to hold such an election. The shadow of its shortcomings shouldn't fall across this achievement.”
No comments:
Post a Comment