Star reports that KITA’s CEC member Firdaus Christopher feels it was unbecoming of me, as an advocate of civil liberties, to have, in my ‘KITA or KITAR?’ post, criticised KITA’s admission of froggie Tee Beng into the party as a member.
For the avoidance of any doubt, let me state here that even as I criticised KITA in that post for admitting a froggie into their ranks, I will be the first to acknowledge and defend their legitimate and constitutional right to keep company with frogs.
Just as I will respect the right of the KITA leadership to say one thing today and quite another the day after.
As such, if my posting left Firdaus with the impression that I was disputing KITA’s right to fraternise with amphibian politicians, I trust that this post will put to rest those concerns.
I have also sent a press statement to The Star in response to Firdaus’s several statements in the news report.
I reproduce the same below.
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In The Star article on March 5, 2011, KITA central executive committee member Firdaus Christopher said:
“Some elected representatives have clearly stated they were quitting because they had lost confidence in the leadership. Therefore it is wrong to assume that all those who quit are traitors.”
In my post, I had alluded to KITA’s Zaid Ibrahim having said on 4th March, 2010, that the excuses given by the three MPs for the reasons behind their departures were merely “made up”, Zaid having first categorically stated:
“… We have enough evidence to show that this was something that was orchestrated some months back. The approaches… the inducements… the meetings… it all happened a while ago …”
Is Firdaus now confirming that there was in fact no such evidence as claimed by Zaid in March, last year, and that Zaid had then unfairly called former PKR member and the present Nibong Tebal MP Tan Tee Beng a traitor?
Is that the case also with Zahrain Mohd Hashim (Bayan Baru) and Mohsin Fadzli Samsuri (Bagan Serai)? If so, perhaps Zaid should now do the honourable thing and publicly apologise to both Zahrain and Mohsin.
Perhaps Zaid will do just that if and when KITA admits those two into the party.
Firdaus was also quoted by The Star as saying:
”Haris’ statement was unbecoming of a leader propagating “civil liberties” …”
If Firdaus carefully studies my post, he will find that the criticism of KITA’s admitting Tee Beng into the party as a member was entirely premised on what Zaid had said of Tee Beng’s defection from PKR last year.
Surely it has not escaped Firdaus attention that MCLM was launched in October last year, following growing concerns about defections from PKR and the implications this posed to the possibility of a similar frog festival post the 13th GE if individuals like these defectors were again picked to stand. In this regard, KITA’s admission of Tee Beng as a member without any further clarification has many wondering if we have witnessed an about-turn by Zaid from his statement last year that:
“We promise that in the next round, our candidates will be better. The vetting process will be more strict and we will select only those who are truly there for the purpose of upholding justice and protecting the interests of the people — not those who have no interest in their jobs”.
Firdaus would do well to first scrutinize the statements made by his party leader prior to the latter exiting PKR to lead KITA so as to ensure that the he does not make senseless statements that only serve to embarrass his party leader.
HARIS IBRAHIM
Moderator, The People’s Parliament
