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Sunday, November 21, 2010

What kind of politician is Zaid Ibrahim exactly?

The whole of last week, some of the people I met have been asking this question - who is Zaid exactly? He was given a position in Tun Abdullah Badawi's cabinet and then he resigned over his views regarding ISA. They argued that he could have just stayed in the cabinet had he wanted a cabinet post to warm. He didnt really have to resign and then join PKR, of all the party, which everyone knows belongs to whom.

But he did join PKR with promises of reform from the party that has been crying "reformasi" from the day the unelected leader was in trouble politically and legally. PKR leaders welcomed him as hero into thier party and in fact even nominated him to stand for election in Hulu Langat. Even then, there were murmurs of tension between him and Azmin Ali. Of course he lost and one wonders if he had won, would the current PKR party elections be any different?

His party election campagain from day one, some say, was politically not savyy. He was not doing what politicians should - do not touch on real reform issues. As everyone has seen, PKR elections was alleged to be anything but democratic, transparent and fair. Even officials within PKR itself asked for the elections to be nullified. In the midst of these events, Zaid Ibrahim pulled out from the race leaving Azmin Ali to win hands down.

Now Zaid Ibrahim has gievn notice to resign from PKR alleging that the party is not reform orientated but lives to serve the interests of one person - the great leader, as he said in a press conference.

Once again, people ask - if Zaid was into politics for the sake of politics, wouldnt he have just stayed in the PKR party. Maybe he will be given some party post and some party function to perform. Some allege that he is ambitious. At 60 plus, you may be in a hurry to accomplish things that you deem important. Couldnt Zaid Ibrahim be serious about wanting a political party that is serious about reforms and less concerned with politics? It is possible that people who are tired of political parties that are more concerned with partisan politics rather than the Nation may just support him.

It will be interesting to watch what Zaid Ibrahim will be up to the coming months. It will be more interesting to see how the general public will react to him. Such a scenario has never happened before in our country. This could just be another significant event in our country towards general political maturing. Or it could be another mere political event.

What do you think?

Peace!

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