The Star carried an article on Sivasubramaniam saga in Perak that sounded more like an intriguing political drama movie. Claims of rm15 millio carrot to jump parties, politican veteran who advises Sivasubramaniam,  lobbying in Tamil newspapers, Kesavan defect rumour, dubious degree, and the idea that Sivasubramaniam has indeed been offered some unknown position. Interesting read. Only time will tell if its true.

Pick candidates with great care

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Buntong assemblyman A. Sivasubramaniam’s ‘mutiny’ shows up the fragility of the Perak coalition, writes BARADAN KUPPUSAMY.

YET another opposition assemblyman has put a gun to his party and the fragile opposition coalition, as he went “into hiding” for six hours. He got away with it, presumably after getting what he wanted.  Buntong assemblyman A. Sivasubramaniam staged his mutiny on the day when the coalition was swearing in its executive members, with lawyer and Sungkai assemblyman S. Sivanesan getting the plum job as sole executive councillor for Indians in Perak.

The job went to Sivanesan after weeks of arduous lobbying and grandstanding especially in the Tamil dailies. Sivasubramaniam, Sivanesan, Tronoh assemblyman V. Sivakumar and PKR’s Hutan Melintang assemblyman M. Kesavan were all actively involved, either directly or through proxies.

The issue was how to adequately please all four assemblymen with the spoils of victory and at the same time satisfy Chinese DAP leaders, PAS assemblymen and other non-Indian PKR leaders. The wrangling went on for days and into the wee hours of the night, with leaders of the three political parties juggling the numbers and trying to share out the largesse without causing ripples, especially when the stability of the yet unborn government hung in the balance with a two-seat majority.

While the opposition leaders haggled over the sharing, “certain parties” were allegedly making persistent telephone calls, enticing the opposition assemblyman to cross over. “The figure started at about RM5mil and escalated to RM15mil,” said one Perak assemblyman who claimed to have received such calls. However, DAP national leaders disputed the authenticity of the offers, saying that the assemblymen were raising their worth by “creating unreal offers,” hiking the sums and thereby holding the party to ransom. They were virtually saying: “If I don’t get the exco post, you know where I will be next week”.

Sivasubramaniam was allegedly part and parcel of this haggling and for him to say he was unaware of the allocations due to the Indian community is laughable. For DAP leaders to say that the whole crisis was over a “miscalculation” on their part, is equally laughable.

According to DAP elders, Sivasubramaniam did not make the grade as an exco member compared to Sivanesan, an experienced politician and prominent lawyer who was first in line among the four.  Sivasubramaniam also could not make it as assembly speaker: a post reserved for Indians, because he had no legal training and only has a degree from an unheard-of Paramount University in the United States. Sivakumar on the other hand, has a string of degrees and although not a lawyer, is considered able to do the job as Speaker. He is to be offered the post when the assembly sits later this month.

That left Sivasubramaniam out in the cold as a “mere” assemblyman, without other perks and benefits. But what he lacked in education and experience, he made up for in gumption. Probably advised by a political veteran who understood the vulnerability of the opposition coalition, Sivasubramaniam sent in a resignation letter to party secretary-general and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng with the words “Divide and Rule” in bold, accusing the party of neglecting Indians whom he claimed had made the DAP victories possible.

While factually incorrect in that Chinese and Malays had also voted Opposition, the accusation touched a raw nerve among some Indians and Makkal Shakti followers, who erroneously believed that they alone had made the Opposition into what it is today. It was a touchy situation but reaction was mixed. Some Makkal Shakti followers were upset at the “raw deal” from the DAP, while others were angry at Sivasubramaniam’s move, describing it as “stupid” and having threatened the coalition government.

Sivasubramaniam disappeared and either he or a proxy faxed his resignation letter to the media, setting off alarm bells that the yet unformed Perak government was precariously on the brink. The situation was made worse by rumours that PKR’s Kesavan had defected.

National DAP leaders scrambled to contain the fallout. Six hours later they managed to get Sivasubramaniam through a close relative and talked him out of carrying out his threats. There was some hardnosed bargaining and while the exco post and that of assembly speaker is as good as gone for Sivasubramaniam, he was offered something else that has persuaded him to end the drama. A press conference was duly called, and the incident played down and put to “miscalculation” between Sivasubramaniam and other Perak DAP leaders.

Whatever he was offered will eventually become public as the new Perak government takes shape. But the episode signals the new coalition’s fragility. The crisis may have ended but the Perak government has been exposed as being easily threatened. Sivasubramaniam is neither the first nor will he be the last. It is a dangerous precedent not to punish him and conversely, to let him off and possibly even reward him.  DAP national leaders see an anti-hop law as the solution and are planning to get other coalition members to pass such a law at the very first sitting later this month.  But a better and lasting solution would be to choose your candidates with greater care and not just to take them as they come.

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