Sigh…what more to say?
http://mt.m2day.org/2008/content/view/28192/84/
Friday, 30 October 2009 15:45
I told Nik Nazmi, the Menteri Besar’s political secretary, about the Badrul problem way back in mid-2008. I told him we have probably ‘lost’ him. And we actually lost him a few days after the 8 March 2008 general election.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
It was in February 2008 that I first met Badrul Hisham Abdullah. And I went to meet him at the request of Ronnie Liu. You see; Ronnie was contesting the Pandamaran state seat under the Port Kelang parliamentary constituency while Badrul was contesting the neighbouring Port Kelang state seat, also under the Port Kelang parliamentary constituency. It was important, therefore, that both Ronnie and Badrul win to ensure that Charles Santiago will win the Port Kelang parliament seat as well.
We were not too worried about Pandamaran because Ronnie had spent many years building his base there. So we were quite confident that Ronnie would win the seat without any problem. But the Port Kelang state seat was another matter. It was going to be an uphill battle with this one.
First of all, no one knew who the hell this Badrul guy was. Secondly, that seat is a strong Barisan Nasional seat because of the Malay voters from Kampong Raja Uda who have always voted Umno since Merdeka Day. Never has Kampong Raja Uda voted opposition and unless they do then Badrul would not be able to win that seat.
To help Badrul increase his chances, Ronnie campaigned for Badrul and he asked me to go meet the voters in Kampong Raja Uda. We need to win the votes of the Malays in Kampong Raja Uda, said Ronnie, if Badrul is going to win. The Chinese and Indians are not too much of a problem. Furthermore, the Malays are the majority so if we can’t win the Malay votes, even if we win 100% of the votes of the Chinese and Indians, it will not help. Anyway, there is no way we can win 100% of the Chinese and Indian votes.
Ronnie arranged for me to ceramah at Kampong Raja Uda. My message to the Malay voters in Kampong Raja Uda was short and to the point. It was raining heavily and we had all these Malays standing in the rain getting soaked to their skin. So it was better that I come to the point, say my piece, and allow them to get out of the rain.
The opposition has never won the votes of the Malays of Kampong Raja Uda, I said. Since Merdeka, the Malays have always voted for the ruling party. For the first time I want the Malays to vote opposition, I said. This kampong, Kampong Raja Uda, is named after my grandfather, Raja Tun Uda. I used to visit this area every year during Hari Raya when I was a child because my relatives used to live here although many have since moved away.
If the Malays here still vote for the ruling party and do not vote for the opposition, I want them to remove my grandfather’s name from this kampong. Call it something else but please do not call it Kampong Raja Uda. And if the ruling party wins the votes from Kampong Raja Uda I swear to never step foot in this kampong again.
On Polling Day, Badrul won the Port Kelang state seat and, for the first time in history, Kampong Raja Uda went to the opposition. However, when it came time to announce the winner, Badrul was nowhere to be seen. They rushed to his house to see whether he was home but it appeared like no one was home. They knocked on his door anyway and for a while no one stirred. They continued knocking and soon a very sleepy Badrul came to the door. He had been sleeping. While the votes were being counted Badrul was at home fast asleep.
Badrul had a very confused look on his face. You won, they told him. Get dressed and come to the counting centre. They need you there to announce the winner.
Badrul remained silent. Quickly, get dressed. You won. You need to go to the counting centre.
I won? Badrul could not believe what he heard.
Yes, you won, quickly, come with us. You need to be there.
The signs that something was not quite right with this man already showed on Nomination Day and Ronnie told me he was a bit worried about this guy. He went to the nomination centre without any money and could not pay the deposit. So they quickly did a collection to help raise the deposit by passing the hat around.
After Badrul had been sworn in as a State Assemblyman, he ‘disappeared’. Instead of spending time with the other Pakatan Rakyat Assemblymen or the Member of Parliament, he was seen almost every night having dinner with the Umno people. He was mingling with the Umno people and staying away from the Pakatan Rakyat people.
I told Nik Nazmi, the Menteri Besar’s political secretary, about the Badrul problem way back in mid-2008. I told him we have probably ‘lost’ him. And we actually lost him a few days after the 8 March 2008 general election.
Nik Nazmi told me they are aware of the problem. But of course nothing was done about it and now the problem has come back to bite PKR and Pakatan Rakyat on their backsides.
That is the saga of Badrul Hisham Abdullah, PKR’s candidate for the Port Kelang state seat who turned up on Nomination day without any money to pay his deposit, who went home to sleep while the votes were being counted, and who ‘joined’ Umno barely a few days after he won the election.
When we first met Badrul, my wife said, oh my God, you mean PKR does not have any other candidates to choose? To be honest, my wife said, even I will not vote for him. How can we expect the general public to vote for him?
I think you make a much better candidate than Badrul, I told my wife.
That is so insulting, my wife replied. How can you compare me to him? I would not even trust him to cut my grass, let alone become my Wakil Rakyat.
Yes, that was my wife’s opinion. And Ronnie told me way back in March 2008 that we are going to have problems with Badrul. We expected him to jump ship more than a year ago. Our only surprise is that it took so long for him to do so. And an even bigger surprise is, after knowing all this, why did PKR not do anything about this guy earlier?
That appears to be the story of PKR’s life. And there are many more the likes of Badrul Hisham Abdullah lurking in PKR. I just wonder when we are going to see more incidences like Badrul.
PKR is beginning to look like one huge joke. But the joke is not funny. We campaigned hard and asked the voters to trust us by voting opposition. I personally went down to the ground to tell the voters to trust me and vote opposition. Have we violated that trust? Will the voters ever trust me again?
That, I would summarise, is the greatest tragedy of all.
