'Be a strong opposition, not strong rebels'

The seeming reluctance of Pakatan Rakyat MPs to take up a proposal to boycott the Parliament’s swearing-in ceremony has been criticised Umno leaders as ‘proof of their hypocrisy’.

Umno Youth new media unit chairman Tun Faisal Ismail Aziz said that if Pakatan really could not accept the results of the 13th General Election (GE13), they should not swear in as parliamentarians during the June 26 ceremony.

“It isn’t fair. The places where they lost, they cannot accept. The places where they win, they accept. This is the mentality of childish losers,” Tun Faisal told Astro AWANI.

“The Blackout 505 rallies were held to protest the running of the elections as well as the credibility of the Election Commission. [Opposition leader] Anwar Ibrahim should boycott parliament as well to show a consistant stand,” he said.

Tun Faisal said that if the MPs took oaths, it meant that they accepted the GE13 results.

He explained that the difference with the petitions by Barisan Nasional were that those only questioned the seats that have been ‘disturbed’ by Pakatan Rakyat.

“The BN petitisions do not question the credibility of the EC or the election itself,” he said.

Umno information chief Datuk Ahmad Maslan described a Pakatan refusal to boycott swearing-in at Parliament as proof that the allegation of electoral fraud was a mere ‘sandiwara’ (act).

“That means that the allegation that the Election Commission is not fair, that there was cheating during GE13 was an act.”

“I have challenged them two weeks ago to boycott the swearing in as MPs to prove that GE13, EC and Barisan Nasional cheated,” he said in an SMS to Astro AWANI.

Despite the hard hitting statements, Kota Belud MP Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan, on the other hand, welcomed those within DAP and Pas who have rejected the idea of a boycott.

“That’s very commendable that they have decided not to boycott going into Parliament. It is time to move on, whatever claims or allegations in regards to the EC can be heard in the open court of law.”

“In the meantime life goes on. The country needs both the opposition and the government to sit down and work together, it’s important that we start doing our work.”

Abdul Rahman said that any MPs who boycott the swearing-in would “put the country in a very difficult position”

“Constitutionally, economically, everything is at stake. By DAP and Pas to say that they would adhere to it, is a good move,” he said.

Abdul Rahman also urged Pakatan Rakyat to be “strong opposition and not strong rebels”, saying that the Blackout 505 rallies might soon be counter-productive for the coalition.

Earlier yesterday, online news portal Free Malaysia Today reported that several Pakatan MPs as being unlikely to boycott the swearing-in.

DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang had said that they had no such plans at the moment. Pas’s Pokok Sena MP Mahfuz Omar did not comment but asked for the question to be asked to the Pakatan secretariat.

On Thursday, several NGOs urged Pakatan Rakyat to boycott the swearing in. Among them were ABU (Anything But Umno) chief Haris Ibrahim.