THERE is no regulation to prevent the candidacy of Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) commissioner Hasnal Rezua Merican Habib Merican as a Barisan Nasional (BN) representative in the Kuang state constituency, coalition chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said.

“There is not even one regulation which bars (the nomination) and I have referred it to our lawyers,” Zahid said in a ceramah at Bandar Tasik Puteri on Thursday night.

“Actually, we should be grateful because a figure in Suhakam has seen all this time that the fountain of justice should be realised. Now that he is a BN candidate, he should not be considered ineligible to uphold the fountain of justice,” he added.

Perhaps we should look at Australian Tim Wilson who resigned – twice.

Wilson, a member of the Liberal Party (LP), was a policy director for seven years at the Australian Institute of Public Affairs (IPA), a free-market think tank that had called for the abolition of the Australian Human Rights Commission (HRC). His appointment by the Abbot government to the HRC in February 2014 accordingly sent shockwaves through the anti-discrimination and political establishments.

Wilson resigned, not only from the IPA but also from the LP, soon after his announcement to the HRC was announced.

Then attorney-general George Brandis said there was no contradiction between Wilson’s appointment and the IPA’s previously expressed belief that the HRC should be abolished.

“People can have a view about whether or not a particular agency or organ of government should exist or not but that doesn’t foreclose them for serving that agency or organ of government while it exists,” Brandis was reported to have said.

Two years into his five-year term, Wilson resigned from the HRC to seek an LP preselection for the federal seat of Goldstein. Wilson had resigned from the party to be appointed to the HRC.

To return to the political fold, he resigned from the HRC. He had therefore resigned twice to be where he wanted to.

So, to resign or to not resign is like asking to be or not to be – the most famous soliloquy in the works of Shakespeare, if not the most famous soliloquy in literature.

The Malays these days will say: “Tepuk dada tanya iman”. It’s about listening to the heart! – August 5, 2023.

* Hafiz Hassan reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.