| Media Statement - A Response to Marina Yusoff |
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Media Statement
A Response to Marina Yusoff
I returned to Kuala Lumpur on 4 July 2000 after attending an
international seminar on Religion & Politics in Asia' in Bangalore,
India.
Though I already had some idea of Puan Marina Yusoff's '13 January'
letter to me, it was only after scouring various newspaper and magazine
reports and internet postings, that I managed to imbibe the full
implications of her tirade against me. I have also spent some time in
the last 3 days talking to my colleagues in the keADILan Supreme
Council, grassroot party officials and members, friends and relatives on
how I should respond to the former keADILan Vice-President's attack.
The consensus is that given her personality and her political
background, most people do not believe the baseless, reckless
allegations contained in Marina's letter. Nonetheless, she has caused
some confusion within sections of our society. To clear this confusion,
I am issuing this media statement.
This statement represents the gist of a much longer letter that I am
sending to Puan Marina. My 11 page letter rebuts each and every
allegation contained in her letter of 13 January. It demolishes the 15
outright lies, mangled half-truths and blatant distortions pedalled in
her diatribe against me. I provide detailed evidence of her
machinations within the party. The motives behind her manoeuvres are
exposed.
However, for the time being, I shall not make the letter to Marina
public. There are two reasons for this. One, since the letter will
reveal how wily she has been, all the flaws and foibles in her character
will be laid bare. I do not want to shame her in public. In spite of
what she has done to me, I believe that there must be a certain degree
of decency and decorum in public discourse. Two, it is my hope that
Marina will reflect on the contents of my letter and realise how wrong
she has been in trying to tarnish my character and destroy my
credibility. If there is a feeling of remorse on her part and she
refrains from character assassination of this sort in future, my private
communication to her would have achieved its purpose.
Let me now provide you with the essence of my communication with Puan
Marina. Some of the lies, half-truths and distortions I have dealt with
are as follows:
Lies
i) I have never thrown files at Dr. Wan Azizah. I am glad that Azizah
herself has denied vehemently that such an incident ever took place.
In my 30 years of involvement in public affairs, I have not thrown
files at anyone. Neither have I thrown files on tables or banged
tables. I have seldom lost my temper in public.
ii) Neither I nor anyone else had asked that disciplinary action be
taken against Marina. The minutes of the relevant meeting and the
testimonies of those who were present will establish the veracity of
my statement.
iii) I had not instigated keADILan Youth Chief Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor to go
against Puan Marina. Whatever allegations were made against Marina
emanated from the Youth Chief himself. I have documentary evidence
of this.
Half-truths
i) Contrary to what Marina alleged in her letter, I provided as much
information as possible to my colleagues in the Political Bureau on
inter-party negotiations on seats for the General Election. Unfortunately,
Marina attended only three out of the fourteen meetings of the Bureau.
ii) In commenting on my intention to resign from the party in December
1999, Marina conveniently left out my remarks that, I have no stomach for
the type of politics that is going on in keADILan' -- a clear reference to the
unscrupulous politics associated with certain individuals in the
party.
Distortions
i) While it is true that the President broke down and cried in the
midst of all the tension generated by the selection of candidates for the General
Election, it is important to understand the background to the incident and the
circumstances surrounding it. Otherwise, one gets a distorted
picture of what really transpired. It is because important decisions
on seats and candidates made by the Supreme Council and President
were arbitrarily changed at the last minute that I became annoyed and
upset. It led to an exchange of words with the President over the
phone. That exchange, and the pressures on her in the Elections
Operations Room that night caused the tears. When I was later
informed she had broken down, I apologised to her. It is an incident
that both of us have set aside. Marina has blown it out of
proportion for her own purpose.
ii) I did not stop Marina from discussing the proposed merger with
PRM. After all,
I was the one who suggested the establishment of a liaison committee
between the two parties in October last year.
iii) I did not readily accept' the proposal that I should be Presid=
ent of the party on
the eve of its launch. On the contrary, it was largely because of my
own opposition to the idea, that an alternative line-up was worked
out.
Apart from indulging in lies, half-truths and distortions, Marina has
also accused me of ruling with an iron fist. She has failed to provide any
evidence
of my iron-fist rule'. The only person who agreed with her
immediately was Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. It is not surprising that he believes
Marina so easily. After all, he also accepted Ummi Hafilda's word on Anwar
without question.
If I'm fond of ruling with an iron-fist', I would not have proposed
that keADILan's Disciplinary Committee should be headed by someone
outside the Supreme Council, and not the Deputy President. By
foregoing chairpersonship of one of the most powerful units within the
party, I have curtailed my own power and authority over the
membership.
Through both exhortation and the formulation of various policies
and programmes, I have tried to develop a democratic culture within
keADILan. This is why I am so opposed to neo-feudal attitudes within
the party rank-and-file. This is why I always encourage the
membership to evaluate the performance of the leadership.
However, Puan Marina is not interested in the truth about my role in
keADILan. Her primary aim is to undermine my moral credibility and my
political integrity. This is why she is making all sorts of senseless
allegations against me.
She has also concocted various allegations against Dr. Wan Azizah. In
fact, in the first 6 months or so of keADILan, she made a concerted
effort to undermine the moral authority of the President. She even
sought to replace her with Anwar Ibrahim. When that failed she began to
ingratiate herself to Wan Azizah. It was at that time that she
intensified her assault on me and certain other party leaders.
One wonders whether Marina's attempt to smear my name and to denigrate
my leadership is part of a larger agenda. Is it aimed at emasculating
the party because Barisan Nasional knows that keADILan has the potential
of mounting a serious challenge to the former in mixed constituencies as
proven by our performance in a number of Federal Territory/Selangor
constituencies in the General Election and in the Teluk Kemang
by-election recently? Isn't it true that the only way to defeat the BN
is to capture mixed constituencies?
Is this also why I'm being targetted? Isn't it true that with
individuals like me at the helm of the party, it would be easier for
keADILan to emerge as the nucleus of a multi-ethnic movement? Or, is it
my role in the Barisan Alternatif -- in helping to forge a working
relationship among the four partners, in sustaining a level of
cooperation within the BA -- which irks the BN leadership?
I ask: What is Marina Yusoff's role in this game?
Dr. Chandra Muzaffar
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