ACCEPTING party-hoppers from Umno or any other party is a betrayal of the people’s mandate given to Pakatan Harapan (PH), said DAP legal bureau chairman Ramkarpal Singh.

He said DAP national chairman and Cheras MP Tan Kok Wai should be commended for speaking out against the practice of welcoming deserters instead of being scorned by fellow PH members in the PH council meeting on Saturday.

Ramkarpal was commenting on reports that the PH presidential council will discuss the possibility of more than 40 Umno MPs defecting to PH.

“What is there to discuss? When Umnowas high and mighty not too long ago, there was a general consensus among the then opposition that it was a plague to the nation and was to be blamed for its woes.

“When Umno was untouchable, they ridiculed us and threatened us with the might of the law to the point our current prime minister was subjected to the humiliation of being labelled a traitor to its cause and by extension, a threat to the future of Malaysia.

“Even his wife was not spared and had to endure the ignominy of police interrogation for having done nothing wrong.

“It is safe to say that if Umno had won, many of us in government today would be prosecuted and the country would be bankrupt in no time.

“No doubt, it might be said that not all in UMNO are like that, only its leaders,” he said in a statement, today. 

Ramkarpal said now there was not a hint of protest or objection when Umno MPs wanted to join the ruling coalition.

“Have we not learned from what happened in Perak in 2008? 

“Didn’t we shake our heads in disgust at the sight of the then Pakatan Rakyat (PR) speaker of the state assembly there being forcibly removed from his seat due to the conduct of three state assemblymen who crossed over, which effectively handed the state back to Barisan Nasional (BN)?” he said. 

He said the so-called Umno 40 did nothing to stop the rot in the country when they were in power despite probably knowing that their leaders were running it down to the ground.

Ramkarpal said ‎accepting crossovers, especially from Umno, gives the impression that there is a dearth of talent in PH and that the coalition is desperate to fill that void even if it means accepting those who willingly collaborated with a corrupt regime.

He said it could be ‎an attempt to enhance PH’s chances of retaining Putrajaya in the next general election.

“I do not wish to speculate, but what is certain is accepting Umno defectors into PH is one way of losing Putrajaya in GE15.

Politicians will have their reasons for encouraging defections but the man on the street would wonder what had hit him if PH looked like Umno in a few months as that wasn’t what he signed up for, he said. – November 1, 2018.