Monday, May 12, 2008

Truly Democratic or Just Another Drama?

YB Teng has added another twist to the DAP v Royal saga by going against his own chairman. He called his own chairman as someone that "lacked of Political Wisdom". The reaction to this, if any, from DAP head honchos and Mr. Chairman himself concerning the statement made would be very interesting indeed. For now, even YB Lim Kit Siang delined to comment.

It could be just another drama though, a ploy by DAP to distance themselves from the on going royalty versus government polemic that their chairman has got himself in.

Now, what Teng did was only exercising his rights to free speech. Whatever it is, we shall see how truly democratic this Democratic Action Party is. Will they allow such open critism to their own chairman? Even UMNO allows it, in its own way of course.

Truly democratic or just another drama?

The Star reports as follows:
Karpal lacked political wisdom, says DAP’s Teng
By LOONG MENG YEE


KUALA LUMPUR: DAP chairman Karpal Singh has acted with a lack of political wisdom when he chose to publicly question the Perak Sultan over the royal jurisdiction of Islamic matters in the state.
“Karpal Singh may be right in law, but this is not merely a legal question, it involves politics. Therefore, I disagree with the approach taken to openly challenge the royal intervention,” said DAP central executive committee member and Selangor Speaker Teng Chang Khim.
Teng said he agreed, in terms of administration, that the Perak Mentri Besar had the authority over the transfer of state civil servants.


Read more here

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think they are being democratic, in that members are in the first place able and not afraid to voice their dissenting views against a top committee member.

This should be seen in a positive light, because multiple viewpoints are permitted to be aired amongst members of a single political party.

An essential point is that this freedom in voicing opinions, or Karpal Singh's comments about royal constitutional rights, does not in any way detract from the party's aims and goals for the Malaysian rakyat, and in fact is in the spirit of upholding a constitutional democracy.

This liberty and openness in the ranks of the opposition political parties is refreshing and should be encouraged.