COMMENT Now we have heard it all. Malim Nawar state assemblyman, Keshvinder Singh, whose days in the seat are apparently numbered, has re-branded himself in a bold move as “people- friendly”. This is taking a distance from the Barisan Nasional and the brink. It’s just a short hop, skip and jump from “BN-friendly” to “people friendly”.
He had declared himself as “BN friendly” in the wake of his June 15 defection from the DAP amidst allegations of money problems which he has since denied as “bulls..t”.
If Keshvinder is to be believed, there’s now some stigma of sorts attached to being “BN-friendly”, a euphemism for getting the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to look the other way as is the case with Umno and BN legislators. Keshvinder’s re-branding may yet persuade other defectors from Pakatan Rakyat to similarly declare themselves as “people-friendly”. It would be a halfway house of sorts on their way back to Pakatan since the question of BN fielding them at the next general election does not arise. The unkind would label it as “reverse frogging”.
If that’s the case, it’s unlikely that the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) would be very interested in Keshvinder. Also, it’s not the done thing to invite political lepers into the party especially if, as in this case, it will incur the people’s wrath. Besides, there’s no guarantee that Malim Nawar will be handed over to PPP by BN for the next outing.
The bottomline for Keshvinder is that he’s still friendly to all, including the opposition alliance, except some in the DAP. He thinks that his political foes in the DAP are spreading the rumours that he has been neglecting the people in his constituency. Hence no doubt his re-branding purportedly in preparation for his entry into the PPP where he does not mind being treated as a nobody. He won’t be demanding any posts in PPP unlike in DAP which he left because he was “marginalised and treated as a nobody”. Why accept from PPP what he was not willing to tolerate in DAP?
There seems to be some truth in the DAP’s allegations against Keshvinder. There’s no smoke without fire. Of course, the DAP has a more colourful way of describing Keshvinder since his defection but it would be kinder not to mention the venom reserved for him by not only the party but by the people as well. They swear that they are just waiting to punish him at the next general election.
A hung Parliament
Keshvinder isn’t the first frog in politics in the country. He won’t be the last either if the next general election produces, as expected, a hung Parliament. But that’s a different story.
Sabah is a precedent of what’s likely to happen to Keshvinder and the other “BN-friendly” legislators at the next general election if they don’t return soon to Pakatan. Those who jumped ship from the Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) in 1994 were rejected by the voters at the subsequent general election.
Among those punished was Jeffrey Kitingan, the younger brother of PBS president Joseph Pairin Kitingan. In fact, as it subsequently emerged, it was Pairin himself who instructed Jeffrey to sacrifice himself for a while and be the eyes and ears of the PBS in other political parties.
Unless Keshvinder and the other “BN friendly” ex-Pakatan legislators are into politics in the abstract, complex and sophisticated mould of the Kitingans, it’s unlikely that they would remain relevant and last the pace as Jeffrey has done especially if they veer towards the BN.
Even today, the suspicion lingers that the Kitingan brothers are working hand-in-glove and that “Jeffrey’s politics is all about protecting PBS”, a party he co-founded with his elder brother in 1985.
Much water has flowed under the bridge since 1994. Even then the speculation in the grapevine continues that Jeffrey would return to PBS in a jiffy if he can take over from Pairin as party president. That would require Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s blessings as Pairin is reported to have advised Jeffrey recently amidst rumours that the elder Kitingan was not exactly in the pink of health.
Political lifeline
Jeffrey is more inclined to remain, as at present, the de facto PKR chief in Sabah and Sarawak, according to his inner circle.
Jeffrey has dismissed the speculation as “sheer nonsense” when it was levelled at him in public not so long ago by PKR Batu Sapi division chief Hassnar Ebrahim based on the “blood is thicker than water” link.
Pakatan co-ordinator Zaid Ibrahim might offer the “BN- or people-friendly” defectors a more modest political lifeline of sorts when he launches his new party, dubbed “PKR Baru” or Parti Keadilan Baru, next month. There’s space here for all those who defected from PKR and DAP to become “BN-friendly”. Apparently, they had been having second thoughts since then on their haste to jump from the frying pan (Pakatan) into the fire (BN).
Zaid’s new outfit is likely to seek and obtain membership in Pakatan with the backing of DAP and PAS, if not de facto PKR chief Anwar Ibrahim. The majority of PKR members can be expected to welcome Zaid in Pakatan since the alternative would be his reluctant defection to BN. The mood in the opposition alliance is for a closing of ranks. This calls for the return of the prodigal sons, Keshvinder and Zaid & Co, since BN remains as from before the common enemy.
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