You Have Got To Be Kidding Me! Mafrel Neutral?!
Imagine an election held three years ago. Three candidates stood. Naturally under the ‘first past the post’ system, only one winner was declared. The other two candidates lost the election while a third lost his deposit. In the three years that passed, the former candidate got an executive committee seat in the Kuching Branch of the Sarawak Dayak Iban Association. Among his contribution to the state include anti-Government demonstrations. Observe:-
In the same website that promotes Mr. Former Election Candidate, the ideology of Parti KeADILan Rakyat is being propagated. As the person who owns the body, the unnamed individual could have requested the webmasters to remove his biography.
As the Batang Ai State Constituency faces a by-election after the demise of the late Datuk Dublin Unting, a movement permitted by the Election Commission decides to appoint this former election candidate as their local coordinator. When speaking to the media, Mr. Peter John tried to assert his neutrality. Quoting that BERNAMA report:
“I was appointed because I am a neutral person and have never joined any political party while Mafrel recognised my past contribution for being active in bringing up human rights issues, especially in Sarawak,” he said in referring to his contest against BN incumbent Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Alfred Jabu and Sarawak National Party (SNAP)’s Dayrell Walter Entrie in the last state polls.
– BERNAMA
Let’s not forget that an Independent may not be affiliated to any party on paper. Certainly there are traces of bias, especially when you have demonstrated it by standing in the last State Elections.
If Peter John was replaced by a Barisan man, there would be public outcry condemning the Government as being biased and the elections as rigged. On the other hand, if the person has political inclinations against the ruling party, he is regarded as neutral? On top of that, neutral in the eyes of a movement claiming to defend free and fair elections? Something is wrong somewhere in the system. Fairness and justice must not only be done, but also seem to be done. Our former deejay friend may not have had heard this phrase before, but for those who did attend law school at one point of time, this is one maxim you’d learn in Equity. Is this, learned friend, equity in action?
What must be done? Either MAFREL finds another local coordinator to lead a 28-member team, or it risks of being regarded as a toy and puppet of the political parties opposing the ruling government. In my view, MAFREL is nothing but a joke – this action reinforces it.
