KUALA LUMPUR: Seputeh MP Teresa Kok has expressed doubts that Abdul Rahman Dahlan’s remarks on the Bersih 5 rally have been endorsed by the Prime Minister and the Cabinet.
“The politics of vengeance have no place in a democracy,” said the MP. “I call on the Prime Minister and the Cabinet to repudiate Rahman Dahlan’s remarks.”
She was referring to the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department telling the media that companies which sponsor and/or support the Bersih 5 rally should be blacklisted. Apparently, they should not get government contracts.
The government, it’s said, was also looking at blacklisting law firms which have government-linked companies as clients but who support Bersih 5.
Rahman’s remarks show he was prepared to subscribe to “primitive democracy”, she charged in a statement. “Fairness is absent.”
Kok has been left wondering why Rahman, “being an intelligent man”, made undemocratic, extreme and unacceptable remarks.
“It reflects a primitive mentality,” she said. “He’s prepared to practice the politics of vengeance for Umno’s political interest.”
The people will not accept such politics, she warned. “It will be wise for him to learn from history.”
She cited the Malacca experience.
In 2000, she reminded, the Malacca Government under Ali Rustam blacklisted over 20 local contractors for allegedly supporting the Opposition during the 1999 General Election.
The state government also ended the services of 21 panel doctors and closed its fixed deposit accounts at two banks over allegations that it had pro-opposition employees.
“Did these Malays who became victims of Ali Rustam’s politics of vengeance switch their support to BN or Umno?” she asked. “The answer is no.”
Ali Rustam had also called on federal agencies and privatized federal bodies to stop doing business with opposition supporters, she recalled.
However, noted Kok, his call did not receive any support from the Federal Government.
Ali Rustam was defeated in Bukit Katil, a traditional Umno stronghold, in the 2013 General Election, she pointed out.