I refer to the Malaysiakini report Wan Azizah finds Ezam's decision 'strange' .
Quite recently Senator Joseph Lieberman of the US Democratic Party had openly thrown his support for John McCain of the Republican Party thus openly going against party loyalty. He said he could not agree with the foreign policy of the potential Democratic nominee Barrack Obama. Some newspapers called him a turncoat. But Lieberman stood by what he had said.
Some thirty years ago, a DAP stalwart, whom Lim Kit Siang groomed to take over the party left to join MCA and became MCA’s deputy president and Labour Minister. I think we will all remember the late Richard Ho.
History in this country tells us how Lim Chong Eu left the MCA and formed the Gerakan along with the late Professor Syed Hussein Alatas and the workers’ hero the late V David and then won the elections in 1973. But as soon as he had won the state of Penang, he threw his support behind the Barisan Nasional.
The ‘Voice of the Lost and the Poor’ in Bukit Bintang for years holding ‘The Rocket’ suddenly decided to leave and give his support to the BN government. We could not believe ourselves that Lee Lam Thye will ever make that kind of a move. But he did leave and did indeed.
Leaders who leave one party to join another may have many reasons to eschew:
It could be a personal reason that they may not want to disclose. Lee Lam Thye nor the late Richard Ho ever disclosed to the public as to why they had to leave DAP. But that was their business to leave or to live.
Some leaders leave to join another party for ideological reasons. But there are very few in this country who have left for that solemn reason. Probably Ezam Mohd Nor, if he rejoins Umno after leaving PKR and abandoning Gerak would be a good example.
Some leaders may find themselves fed up with the party direction like in Umno today and may want to move out to join another party of their liking. Yong Teck Lee of Sabah has voiced his concern. It is a legitimate concern that he is unhappy with the Barisan Nasional leadership. He might want to throw his support behind Pakatan Rakyat.
The question does not lie with the people to respond as to whether these practices are indeed ethical. The dynamics of politics have too many strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats. For example, Mokhzani Mahathir left Umno to support his father. His father left Umno after being its leader for 22 years. We could go on making many a SWOT analysis but we would not be able to establish the philosophy of ethics in such kind of crossover practices.
We cannot equate and cry and say ‘Look my wife has left me and abandoned our children to live with my neighbour!’ Such an analogy would be wrong. We must be able to distinguish between individual, group and organisational effectiveness.
Parliamentarians of the BN who feel disgruntled for many other reasons should have the choice to leave the government and join the opposition and then become part of a new government. If they can accept Abdullah Ahamd Badawi as their leader, they should also be able to accept Dr Wan Azizah Ismail as their next prime minister.
We should allow for freedom of choice of the individual with an exceptional clause that when they meet the people again for their next round after five years , the people who have elected them would decide if their representative had made the right choice for them.
