You cannot buy loyalty. You cannot buy the devotion of hearts, minds, and souls. You have to earn these things.
– Clarence Francis, American entrepreneur
To Bersatu’s Bukit Gantang MP Syed Abu Hussin Hafiz Syed Abdul Fasal, one of the rogue MPs from the party, Bersatu’s notice demanding that members pledge their loyalty to the party is “meaningless”.
As such, the MP stated on May 18 that he would not respond to it.
Two weeks later, the notice may not be as meaningless as Syed Abu Hussin had thought, at least not to the Bersatu leadership.
According to Bersatu information chief Razali Idris, the six rogue MPs and an assemblyman have ceased to be members of the party after failing to respond to the notice to confirm their loyalty.
He said that the cessation of their membership was effective May 31, the deadline to sign and return the notices.
“They have lost their membership,” he told the media on June 2.
Here we are today. After the six Bersatu MPs pledged their support to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as prime minister, the party leadership found the betrayal hard to swallow.
Apart from Syed Abu Hussin, the other Bersatu MPs who declared their support for Anwar are Mohd Azizi Abu Naim (Gua Musang), Zahari Kechik (Jeli), Iskandar Dzulkarnain Abdul Khalid (Kuala Kangsar), Suhaili Abdul Rahman (Labuan) and Zulkafperi Hanafi (Tanjong Karang).
The sole state representative who has declared his support for Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari is Selat Klang assemblyperson Abdul Rashid Asari.
Also on June 2, Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin disclosed that 25 MPs and 58 assemblymen from the party had signed and returned their special notices on party loyalty. Only the seven dissidents did not do so.
It’s understandable for Muhyiddin, as the party’s head honcho, to be fuming. Who wouldn’t after being betrayed by those chosen as party candidates in GE15 in 2022?
Muhyiddin had earlier requested the rogue MPs to resign from their positions so that by-elections could be held. But they stayed put, insisting that their pledge of support for the prime minister was to obtain MP allocations for their constituencies.
Labuan MP Suhaili had posed earlier: “I didn’t leave the party. All we wanted was allocations from the government for our constituencies. We never switched parties. We were only supporting the government of the day. How is this wrong?”
I’m on the side of the Bersatu leadership on this. I’m surprised Suhaili had asked what was wrong with supporting the government. I’m surprised the MP is unaware that supporting the government while he is representing the opposition in Parliament is wrong. That is a blatant act of betrayal!
Ha, I didn’t know that even our elected representatives could be so dumb or are they just pretending to be so? That reminds me of self-serving politicians who are prepared to do anything, including acting stupid, as long as they can get what they want and their interests served.
All elected reps must understand that going against your party and supporting another leader is open defiance and the penalty is expulsion, at the very least.
We can see how determined Muhyiddin and his Bersatu acolytes were to nail the seven dissidents for backstabbing the party. They could not bring them to book via the anti-hopping law because the rogue MPs managed to circumvent it.
The notice demanding elected reps of the party to sign a pledge of loyalty was a tactical move which the seven were not prepared for. But all have said that they were prepared for the worst and would also be ready to defend their seats if by-elections are called.
Bersatu must be hoping that their party constitution will override the provision in the anti-hopping law on MPs having to vacate their seats.
However, whether that move will be successful or not in getting the rogue MPs to resign from their seats has yet to be seen.
It is seen as yet another gruelling test for the Madani government – this time to prove whether that particular section of the law is fool-proof.
It will be interesting to watch the development of this issue in the days and weeks ahead.
Already, Bersatu has said that they would inform Dewan Rakyat speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul in this month’s sitting that their six rogue MPs have been stripped of their party’s membership.
While I have acknowledged that the seven dissidents were wrong to cross over with their support for PM Anwar, I would also say that karma must have returned to deal a big blow to Muyhiddin and his bunch of Sheraton traitors over their betrayal of the duly elected Pakatan Harapan government in 2020.
To the Sheraton backstabbers, it’s time to feel the pain and agony of being betrayed by those whom you thought you could trust.
What goes around comes around. Always bear this in mind – if you do bad things to others, those actions will eventually come back to affect you negatively. The moral lesson here is that one’s actions, whether good or bad, have consequences.
This is only a fair warning to the leaders and members of Bersatu.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
