Aliran Monthly 20(5) Page 1 PP3739/12/2000 ISSN 0127
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PP3739/12/2000 ISSN 0127 - 5127 / RM3.00 / 2000:20(5) Aliran Monthly 20(5) Page 1 COVER STORY Die Hard The new, the old and the ugly in Parti KeADILan Nasional’s turmoil by Khoo Boo Teik hen the past catches up The turmoil was apparently paign of reflection’ on the future WWW with us in our lives, it of- fueled by discontent over several of Reformasi by ‘blacking out’ their WW ten does so as a shock. issues that deservingly or other- sites for several days. Rarely do we feel such a wise revolved around keADILan shock more greatly than when we deputy president, Dr Chandra While some of the sites’ regular head for new directions thinking Muzaffar. visitors agonized over this ‘infor- we have left behind old problems mation hunger strike’, it leaked and obsolete ways of doing Teluk Kemang out that the webmasters meant to things. Such, when they reappear, And The Webmasters accuse Chandra and keADILan make us wonder if we are more secretary-general, Mohd Anuar than mere captives of circum- Some time before nomination day Tahir, of ‘not adhering to Anwar stances or creatures of habits that for the Teluk Kemang by-election Ibrahim’s instructions’. die hard. of 10 June, Chandra was reported to have threatened his party’s In the event Chandra denied hav- In the life of a nation the past withdrawal from Barisan ing issued an ultimatum to BA. doesn’t just catch up but it con- Alternatif if keADILan was not The keADILan-PRM merger is be- tinually haunts. And it never picked to contest the by-election. ing explored. No webmaster clari- haunts more eerily than when fied what Anwar’s instructions people look to a future freed of Around then, too, there were mur- were. KeADILan’s Ruslan Kasim age-old taints and stains only to murs that Chandra opposed a lost in Teluk Kemang (although he find that new visions quickly sur- proposal for keADILan to merge slashed Barisan Nasional’s 1999 render to ancient ambitions, pas- with Parti Rakyat Malaysia, ap- majority by 40 per cent). sions and suspicions. parently an idea that had sub- stantial support within Marina’s Allegations The result is people are left feeling keADILan. that ‘nothing has changed’. It is a All that didn’t prevent a further sinking feeling that many Reformasi Ahead of the Teluk Kemang by- controversy from erupting on 26 supporters will have known in the election, another issue surfaced June when malaysiakini.com pub- light of Parti KeADILan Nasional’s when the webmasters of five lished a letter from Marina Yusoff recent turmoil. Reformasi sites waged a ‘cam- to Chandra. Aliran Monthly 20(5) Page 2 CONTENTS COVER STORY Die HardDie Hard 222 FEATURES Whither The Judiciary 777 Integrity, Integrity, Integrity! 888 Chief Justice's Holiday In NZ 999 Judges Code Of Ethics 101010 Silence Of The Lambs? 121212 Towards Judicial Accountability 131313 Did The Chief Justice Lie? 151515 “The Government Has Never Complained 161616 Between Myth And Reality 262626 There's A Gene In My Soup 303030 Democracy In Sarawak 333333 REGULARS LettersLettersLetters 171717 ALIRAN'S HOMEPAGE Thinking Allowed 1919 Thinking Allowed 191919 http://www.malaysia.net/aliran Current Concerns 343434 OTHERS Printed byPrinted by Perfect Printing Sdn. Bhd. Subscription Form 383838 No. 1235-D, An Assignment For You 393939 Jalan Paya Terubong, The Man Hides In Putrajaya 404040 11060 Pulau Pinang. ALIRANALIRANALIRAN is a Reform Movement dedicated to Justice, Freedom & Solidarity and listed on the roster of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. Published by Guided by universal spiritual values, Aliran has been Aliran Kesedaran Negara (ALIRAN) striving for genuine unity by promoting social justice and human dignity since 1977. Membership is open 103, Medan Penaga, to all Malaysians above 21. If you are interested in 11600 Jelutong, joining Aliran, please contact the Hon Secretary at Penang, Malaysia. the address shown in this page. Tel : (04) 658 5251 Fax : (04) 658 5197 Aliran Monthly 20(5) Page 3 Marina had just resigned as by Ahmad Lufti Othman. In that ers, concerned Malaysians or keADILan vice-president for interview Chandra spoke of prob- Reformasi supporters to make of ‘health and business’ reasons. lems concerning keADILan but these developments? Were her letter recent and brief, the made no reference to Marina. matter might have stopped there. Chandra was overseas when Ma- They can, of course, condemn the Even its complaint of ‘too much rina’s letter was published. He webmasters for colluding in a time (being) wasted by those jos- has since written a letter to Ma- form of internet tyranny to oust rina, and re- from keADILan people they leased a state- deemed to be ‘insufficiently dedi- ment replying cated to Anwar’s cause’. partly to her charges. Alternatively they can dismiss Chandra as a party autocrat who KeADILan tried abuses his ‘idealism’ to preach to rise above this ‘moral principles’ that more prop- incident. Wan erly belong to a non-governmen- Azizah de- tal organization and not a politi- scribed it as a cal party battling for survival. ‘personal mat- ter’ while the Or they can suspect Marina of tim- party’s general ing the release of her letter to in- assembly flict maximum damage on tling for power and undermining elected without any fuss a new keADILan in return for personal each other’ might have been read vice-president, Zainur Zakaria. benefit (either related to business as a well-intended warning from KeADILan vice-president Tian or her prosecution for sedition). someone who had party interests Chua was earlier reported to have at heart. said that some quarters were try- For the moment, however, what ing to undermine Marina’s posi- we have is a classic Malaysian But Marina’s letter was dated 13 tion, but more recently said only political spectacle wherein oppo- January 2000 and ‘anonymously that the party’s supreme council nents trade accusations and ‘refu- received’ by malaysiakini five hadn’t taken a stand on the issue. tations’ without anyone offering months later. Each of the ‘12 incontrovertible evidence to prove points’ in the letter was a pointed On the whole, however, the con- the correctness of their position. accusation against Chandra. troversies retained an air of mys- tery not cleared by a sufficiently Not for the first time, Malaysians Marina’s letter alleged that transparent handling. should resist the temptation of Chandra had misrepresented accepting either that ‘there is no things to Anwar Ibrahim and ig- Such an omission in our political smoke without fire’ or that ‘if you nored Anwar’s ‘written instruc- climate was an open invitation to fling enough mud, some of it will tions’. The letter also claimed that Malaysians (habitual consumers stick’. If the Anwar affair taught Chandra had ‘harassed’ of conspiracy theories) to sniff out us nothing else, it should have keADILan president, Dr Wan hidden hands, secret agendas and taught us to be healthily sceptical Azizah Wan Ismail, packed ulterior motives. Sure enough, de- of unproven accusations and pre- keADILan’s Political Bureau with tractors of both Chandra and Ma- mature verdicts. Chandra’s supporters and turned rina rushed letters to malaysiakini, party meetings into ‘monologues’. some attacking the former and Political Change And others denouncing the latter. KeADILan’s Birth KeADILan’s Handling Remain Healthily About keADILan’s turmoil, it is Ten days before the appearance of Sceptical likely we won’t know ‘the truth, Marina’s letter, malaysiakini car- the whole truth and nothing but ried an interview with Chandra What are less impetuous outsid- the truth’. So help us God, it Aliran Monthly 20(5) Page 4 would be tragic if we now despair standing of Reformasi as con- In 1969, Gerakan Rakyat Malay- that ours is a society that can never tained in Anwar’s Permatang sia was built around the United change for the better. Pauh Declaration. Democratic Party, cohesive rem- nants from Labor Party, and po- KeADILan’s continued exist- This programme was constantly litically experienced trade union- ence contains one small truth pulled in two main directions. ists. about our recent past: Political Everyone knew there would have change is attainable even if the been no Reformasi without Anwar. KeADILan enjoyed no such ad- process is imperfect and pro- Everyone also knew Reformasi vantage. The reputedly large con- duces parties and politicians couldn’t go places if it didn’t go tingent of ‘Anwar’s boys and who mix bits of a better future ‘beyond Anwar’. girls’ in UMNO didn’t defect in with bytes of a lousy past. as large a number as some had ex- Organizational pected. Other than ABIM leaders Recall that keADILan was born in Stresses perhaps, the NGO activists who crisis, weeks before Anwar’s first boosted keADILan’s leadership trial ended with his conviction. These characteristics of leader- could summon few troops. Num- The party’s leadership was hast- ship, membership and direction bers aren’t everything in politics, ily assembled. Its membership brought keADILan its main but party structures and networks was unsystematically recruited. strength of a popular base but also can’t be built out of spirit alone. Its direction was ambivalent. organizational stresses and ideo- logical differences. Add these factors to the pressures KeADILan had a broad leadership of the time. Mix in personal ambi- mix of ex-UMNO politicians, NGO Given time to overcome its teeth- tions. Throw in ‘different agen- activists and Anwaristas of differ- ing problems, keADILan’s leader- das’. And one can imagine pa- ent shades. It couldn’t help being ship might have developed a reli- tience wearing thin and tempers ideologically non-unified and able framework for resolving such fraying at meetings that quickly largely untested.