You Jump, I Sue: Can voters sue traitors?

By NH Chan

For their willful betrayal of trust, is there a cause of action against the turncoats who jumped ship? The answer is yes. Considering the principle of estoppel in determining a cause of action for affected voters and the political parties on whose ticket the turncoats were elected as their representatives in Parliament and in the Perak Legislative Assembly, to sue these traitors.

The other day someone gave me a copy of Harakah of 8-11 March 2010 and in the English section I came across this piece written by P. Ramakrishnan, Aliran President:

The … 12 February 2010 … marked the first PKR resignation – the MP for Bayan Baru – and [that] sparked the dishonourable exit of two more traitors of the voters who supported the Pakatan Rakyat by electing these renegades. On 1 March 2010 the MP for Nibong Tebal, Tan Tee Beng, and two days later on 3 March, the MP for Bagan Serai, Mohsin Fadzli Samsuri, announced their resignations respectively.

All of them suddenly seem to have grievances with their party and its policies. … These views do not reflect the views of their voters nor are they supported by those who voted for the PR at the last general election. Their selfish conduct has condemned them to doomsday for subverting parliamentary democracy. They will find no peace of mind after this terrible, willful betrayal of trust.

These riff-raffs have deserted the voters who elected them and betrayed the party that fielded them. Their individual action has betrayed thousands of voters in their constituencies and completely discarded their sentiments.

Aren’t they accountable to their constituents?

Zahrain has disappointed 27,618 voters; Tee Beng has frustrated 20,210 voters and Mohsin has let down 18,943 voters. In all, they have betrayed a total of 66,771 constituents whose support had put them in parliament and helped them to earn thousands of ringgits monthly.

These are the same unprincipled vile characters like the ones in Perak who jumped ship and perverted the democratic process and frustrated the popular will of the Perakians.
The man who accompanied each of these traitors when their resignations were announced was the former Secretary-General of PKR, Datuk Salehuddin Hashim. … he is seen as the hand engineering the betrayal of the voters and the party …