Ramkarpal: Culture of accepting crossovers 'abhorrent', betrayal of mandate given to Pakatan

Ramkarpal Singh. -Starpic

PETALING JAYA: Amid talks of 40 Umno parliamentarians crossing over to Pakatan Harapan, Ramkarpal Singh has asked what these lawmakers did to stop the rot of the country when they were in power.  

The Bukit Gelugor MP said that the culture of accepting crossovers, be it from Umno or any other party, is abhorrent and a betrayal of the mandate given to Pakatan Harapan by the rakyat in GE14 and must be stopped.

He said that when Umno was high and mighty not too long ago there was a general consensus amongst the then opposition that it was a plague to the nation and was to blame for its woes.

He said that Umno ridiculed the Opposition then, threatening them with the might of law to the point that Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was 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 persecuted and the country would be bankrupt in no time,” he said in a statement on Thursday (Nov 1).

Ramkarpal said that while not all in Umno were like that, he questioned what did the rest of its members and MPs do when their leaders ran riot.

“These so-called Umno 40 did nothing to stop the rot of the country when they were in power despite probably knowing all along that their leaders were running it down to the ground. And today we want to accept them?” he said.

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

“Or perhaps it’s a numbers game in that there is a need to boost our membership to appeal to the masses in order to enhance our chances of retaining Putrajaya in GE15 or to consolidate our power in Parliament,” he said, adding that accepting Umno crossovers was one way of losing the next elections.

He said that they have five years before the next election to gather talent and an opportunity to heal the trauma inflicted from 60 years of Umno and Barisan Nasional rule.

“Save for a few who have yet to see the light, nobody wants an Umno 2.0 today.

“I am surprised that we are entertaining the thought of crossovers. Even more surprised that it might be discussed this Saturday. Surely, there are more important things to talk about,” he said. 

The Pakatan Harapan presidential council will be meeting on Nov 3 to discuss, among other matters, the issue of accepting Umno MPs into its parties.