Malicious attacks are signs of fear, says Zaid

By Athi Shankar - Free Malaysia Today,

GEORGE TOWN: Smear campaigns carried out by certain candidates in the on-going party polls are pointers to a fear syndrome gripping PKR, party supreme council member Zaid Ibrahim said.

He said the malicious personal attacks on others, using labels such as “Trojan Horse”, “hidden enemy” and “BN agent”, were carried out to promote a fear culture among party grassroots members.

He called on those spreading the malicious campaign to produce evidence to back their claims or stop their personal attacks.

“This is not good for the party democratisation and reform struggle. Do we want the culture of accusing each other to prevail in the party?

“If this is the culture we want, then we are no different from Umno and Barisan Nasional,” he told some 60 people attending “An Evening with Tok Z” session at Seri Malaysia Hotel yesterday.

The PKR Bayan Baru division’s “Team Rakyat”, headed by M Ngnanasegaran, organised the event.

Zaid suggested that the top leadership take stern disciplinary action against those carrying out the malicious attacks.

“They should be disciplined with stern punitive action for tarnishing the party's image,” he said.

'People are smart'

Zaid said that PKR and Pakatan Rakyat cannot go on merely criticising the government on all issues without suggesting solutions.

He added that the people have voted Pakatan not just to oppose BN, but also to perform as state governments with a difference.

He warned that Pakatan states' failure to deliver would result in people voting out the coalition in the next election.

He cautioned Pakatan not to take the support of the people in the last general election for granted.

“The people are smart... they would quietly vote us out,” he said.

Zaid said the size of the party membership was not an indication of a PKR success, adding that the Conservative party in Britain has only about 300,000 members but is ruling a population of 67 million.

“What we need are active members who can take part in all the decision-making process of the party, not just by-standers” he said.

He added that it was pointless to claim half-a-million membership when only a few hundred took part in the party elections.

“It shows that members were not keen to exercise their one member-one vote rights,” he said.

Vision for PKR

Zaid, who is contesting for deputy president, called for a cohesive reform programme to be carried out within PKR to galvanise members to take an active part in the internal polls.

“What’s the point for us to contest when members do not come out to vote,” said Zaid, who faces PKR powerbroker Azmin Ali and Mustapha Kamil Ayub for the number two slot.

He cited BN’s claim of having 7.5 million members as a fine example that large membership does not necessarily bring success.

If the BN membership was true, said Zaid, the country need not hold general elections because the coalition would win them all since registered voters numbered only 12 million.

Instead, he said the hallmarks of a successful party were political leadership and management quality; the bottom-to-top democratisation and leadership empowerment process; and performance with a difference.

“We must empower the people from bottom to top to be active and involved in decision-making process at all levels.

“We need to reform members to be active, vibrant and dynamic to give ideas and solutions to resolve local problems.

“It is pointless for us to talk about the sky and earth, stars and moons when we fail to sort out these details.

“This is my vision for the party,” said Zaid, who was fondly addressed as “Tok Z” by local PKR members.