Malaysiakini - Penang Umno motion - PKR reps' conscience, or planned revolt?
![]()
The above is an article penned by CM Lim Guan Eng himself. He wrote (relevant extracts only):
The five PKR assemblypersons who abstained from voting cannot be dismissed as an act of a loner, but pre-planned and organised. PKR whip Ong Chin Wen the assemblyperson for Bukit Tengah told the press that the PKR 5 abstained in accordance with their conscience and that it “reflected the current political situation”.
Does this mean that their own four PKR assemblypersons holding government posts, namely Penang deputy speaker Maktar Shapee, the three PKR excos of Deputy Chief Minister I Mohd Rashid Hasnon, Abdul Malik Abul Kassim and Afif Bahardin, who voted against Umno’s motion have no conscience?
What type of current political situation is he talking about when the Umno assemblypersons had earlier opposed PKR’s motion to ask that imprisoned PKR leader, Anwar Ibrahim, be given medical treatment of his choice as well as refused to answer to questions relating to the RM2.6 billion donation scandal?
Abstention by the PKR 5, as a BN daily emphasised, is as good as supporting Umno’s motion and an “act of mutiny from within”. Can the PKR 5 be counted upon as a reliable or dependable partner, ally or member of the Penang state government?
![]()
![]()
Equally disturbing is Ong’s claim that the five PKR assemblypersons had decided to abstain and duly informed their party leadership. However he refused to say which PKR national leader he had informed. Ong also admitted that the other four PKR assemblypersons who supported the Penang state government by opposing Umno’s motion had no knowledge that the PKR 5 intended to abstain.
This is a clear sign of dissatisfaction by the PKR 5 or even a mutiny against the 4 PKR assemblypersons holding government posts.
If true, this shows that there is a party within a party in PKR, one comprising of those holding government posts and the other comprising backbenchers which appeared to be backed by national PKR leaders.
The above is an article penned by CM Lim Guan Eng himself. He wrote (relevant extracts only):
The five PKR assemblypersons who abstained from voting cannot be dismissed as an act of a loner, but pre-planned and organised. PKR whip Ong Chin Wen the assemblyperson for Bukit Tengah told the press that the PKR 5 abstained in accordance with their conscience and that it “reflected the current political situation”.
Does this mean that their own four PKR assemblypersons holding government posts, namely Penang deputy speaker Maktar Shapee, the three PKR excos of Deputy Chief Minister I Mohd Rashid Hasnon, Abdul Malik Abul Kassim and Afif Bahardin, who voted against Umno’s motion have no conscience?
What type of current political situation is he talking about when the Umno assemblypersons had earlier opposed PKR’s motion to ask that imprisoned PKR leader, Anwar Ibrahim, be given medical treatment of his choice as well as refused to answer to questions relating to the RM2.6 billion donation scandal?
Abstention by the PKR 5, as a BN daily emphasised, is as good as supporting Umno’s motion and an “act of mutiny from within”. Can the PKR 5 be counted upon as a reliable or dependable partner, ally or member of the Penang state government?
If you note carefully, the 5 PKR ADUN who did not support the Penang Pakatan government consisted of 4 Chinese, while the 4 PKR ADUN who supported the state government have been all Malays.
I suspect this has more to do with the Chinese section of PKR being ferociously against DAP. Once I had written:
The truth is that PKR (if we leave out the PRM component) has been KeADILan has been UMNO.
It undeniably possesses UMNO genes and characteristics though it claims to be multi-racial, a claim somewhat discredited by Anwar Ibrahim's poor treatment of many of its erstwhile Indian members who left in droves - but then if they hadn't, would Azmin Ali have a chance of becoming party deputy president and eventually party president?
So while the ex-UMNO members represent the core of PKR and dominate party policies and decision making, and precisely because of all these, the nons want so desperately to demonstrate their relevance in the party.
And, hey hey hey, there's the PKR Chinese faction, with its unspoken faction leadership reputed to have been assumed by Tian Chua.
Tian Chua is of course not his birth/legal name, which is Chua Tian Chang. It's obvious he has clung on to his Aussie-given name.
Western nations have this (culturally) bad habit of westernizing Chinese names by relegating the Chinese surname to being the last name (where the western surname stands), thus Chua Tian Chang became Tian Chang Chua, and under the Western-Christian naming concept, which has the First name (Personal or as Malaysians know it, Christian name), then Middle name, and finally Last name (or Surname), Tian was believed to be his 'First' name, thus Tian Chua, not unlike Elvis Presley from Elvis (1st name) Aaron (Middle name) Presley (last name) wakakaka.
Hmmm, I wonder what his parents or siblings call him? Probably Chai or Chang.
For more of Australian (western) mangling of Chinese names, please read my post What's in a name! wakakaka.
And I wonder what role/status former MCA man Chua Jui Meng has in PKR, and what threat he poses to the current leadership of Tian Chua? But sorry, thus has to be another story.
Anyway, long before the 'Lim GE is an arrogant and cocky tokong' brouhaha, courtesy of PKR's Mansor Othman wakakaka, Tian Chua had been well aware that his Heavenly Snake faction in PKR might not have a role at all, or at best only a token one, if Anwar Ibrahim were to see DAP as the Pakatan component to be given responsibility for Chinese and Indian majority constituencies.
Tian Chua's fear has now crystallized into reality and thus become a current contentious issue within PKR, as reported in the Malaysia Chronicle’s MUTINY IN PKR: Anwar under fire for "betraying" members over seats. I'll discuss this further in a while.
Oh, BTW, I was told by a friend that Tian Chua has mucho influence in Malaysian Chronicle, wakakaka.
Thus, prior to 2008, in order to prevent such a terrifying Pakatan status quo (of Anwar accepting DAP as the Pakatan component party to be given responsibility for Chinese and Indian majority constituencies) from setting in to the disadvantage of the Heavenly Snake faction, he and his cohorts had the treacherous habit of making pre-emptive strikes against DAP in seat allocations, by making unilateral media announcements of seat allocations for Pakatan (not PKR) which strangely, if you believe in coincidences wakakaka, usually favoured PKR.
Of course those 'unilateral' announcements meant that DAP leaders would, after reading the morning news, invariably exclaim 'WTF!' wakakaka.
Alas, despite all its pre-emptive strikes, the general success (or lack of) by PKR in elections has been noticeably inferior to DAP , especially in Sarawak, and coupled with the avalanche-like dominance of DAP in Penang DUN, have dampened their (Chinese) members' confidence severely, thus it was hardly surprising these PKR members in Penang desperately sought Mansor Othman's assurances that he would not relinquish any of PKR's seats allocated in 2008, even the ones they lost, to DAP.
The Chinese PKR faction’s fears have been realized today, following news of Anwar's agreement with DAP that Karpal Singh's party will contest in the federal seats of Bentong (Pahang) and Gelang Patah (Johor).
Continuing with Lim GE's piece in Malaysiakini, we read:
Equally disturbing is Ong’s claim that the five PKR assemblypersons had decided to abstain and duly informed their party leadership. However he refused to say which PKR national leader he had informed. Ong also admitted that the other four PKR assemblypersons who supported the Penang state government by opposing Umno’s motion had no knowledge that the PKR 5 intended to abstain.
This is a clear sign of dissatisfaction by the PKR 5 or even a mutiny against the 4 PKR assemblypersons holding government posts.
If true, this shows that there is a party within a party in PKR, one comprising of those holding government posts and the other comprising backbenchers which appeared to be backed by national PKR leaders.
Hmmm indeed, I wonder who that PKR national leader is? Wakakaka.