Monkey see, monkey do

COMMENT | PKR has nominated for the post of menteri besar of Selangor Dr Idris Ahmad, their state assemblyperson for Ijok, who is 70 years old.

He is an obstetrician and gynaecologist - a good one it is believed, with a practice in a leading private medical facility in the Klang Valley.

But like many expert practitioners of prescribed specialities, he apparently can't seem to make the transition to "generalist", which is what good politicians ought to become.

A generalist develops and proceeds from a coherent worldview which he/she then applies, with imagination and flair, to any issue or subject matter.

Over a period of time, that coherence jells to render the holder a whole thinker, able to articulate concerns that project him/her as a someone of consistent advocacy, backed by the practice of works consonant to their worldview.

In PKR that worldview would see its exponent defend democratic principles in politics and be for social democratic policies in economics.

In short, they would be against nepotism, cronyism, and corruption which was the party's rallying cry when it was formed in the ferment that accompanied Anwar Ibrahim's sacking and jailing in the late 1990s...