PH leaders should not roll out the welcome carpet for the very politicians that citizens had given up on, warns JD Lovrenciear.
The exodus from Umno has begun. The MCA and the MIC and other partners within Barisan Nasional are perhaps also calculating their departures.
Meanwhile some believe that coalition parties within Pakatan Harapan are eagerly and perhaps quietly willing to open the gates to those abandoning a party they had vouched to be the sole protector of the Malays and Islam in the country right up to polling day on 9 May 2018.
If PH leaders admit more Umno or BN defectors, it would be widely perceived as an act of gross betrayal. PH leaders must not (out of desperation or convenience) forget that voters, after much deep thought, cast their precious ballots in favour of PH to get rid of a party and coalition that had largely betrayed the voters over six decades.
So PH leaders should not roll out the welcome carpet to the very politicians that citizens had given up on. If they do so, where would be the deep sense of moral fidelity to citizens?
Citizens were told that Umno was corrupt. We were told that BN was corrupt. We were told that Pas was a threat to the nation’s Federal Constitution. So why should the back gates of PH be left open for its opponents? Is it to secure Umno supporters? Or to pacify Pas followers? That would be a grave weakness for PH.
A political party is not independent of the leaders of that political party. It is the politicians and their supporters who make up a party. So if a political party is deemed corrupt, it is because of the sins of commission or omission committed by politicians in that party.
If compromised Umno or other BN politicians are admitted into PH, it would be no different from the proverbial ‘tutup satu mata’ culture that was prevalent in the past government of six decades. If such BN politicians are admitted, how can PH leaders then profess that we now have a ‘new Malaysia’? Would that not be a betrayal of the voters’ trust?
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