PETALING JAYA: Pakatan Rakyat will not win Putrajaya until elections in Malaysia are free and fair, according to former law minister Zaid Ibrahim.
In his latest blog posting, cast as a message of consolation to Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud, the prominent lawyer and maverick politician criticises the parliamentary opposition for what he says is a lack of focus in its struggle.
“The Opposition has a fancy idea that [it] can win Putrajaya on the combined platforms of the injustices against Anwar, the hudud plan and DAP’s multiracialism,” he says.
“These platforms are all over the place and the Opposition does not want to deal with the most important issue: free and fair elections.
“[It] should put [its] struggle in focus, and this must begin with changing the [Election] Commission and the election laws.”
In last Saturday’s Teluk Intan by-election, Dyana, representing DAP, lost to Barisan Nasional’s Mah Siew Keong by 238 votes.
Zaid tells Dyana her party did not make a mistake in fielding her in the contest. He says DAP would have lost even if it had fielded another candidate because the Election Commission was “powerless to ensure a fair election”.
The article is dismissive of “so-called clever political analysts” and is laced with sarcasm directed at the Election Commission, Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat.
Zaid urges Dyana to “make friends” with PAS Deputy President Mohamad Sabu and “get him to mobilise a 500,000-strong assembly demanding a new Election Commission and appropriate laws that will give the commission power to conduct elections at a standard at least comparable” to Indonesia.
