Choo Keong: Flying Dutchman no more
Terence NettoPublished: Feb 25, 2008 5:30 AM | Updated: Feb 25, 2008 5:41 AM
The wilderness has been one of the most romantic stretches of politics ever since famous politicians went there or were forced to, only to return with the most triumphant results.
The wilderness has been one of the most romantic stretches of politics ever since famous politicians went there or were forced to, only to return with the most triumphant results.
Wee Choo Keong, PKR’s candidate for the mixed-race parliamentary constituency of Wangsa Maju in the Federal Territory, had been in a kind of legal limbo from 1993 to 2007, a 14-year run of troubles compounded by ejections not only from his seat of Kuala Lumpur Bandar (later Bukit Bintang) in 1995, but also from his former party, DAP.
“I was like the Flying Dutchman with no port of call,” said 53-year-old Kota Bharu-born and Penang-raised lawyer, alluding to the legend of the ship captain who was doomed to sail the oceans because no port would allow him to dock.
After Wee’s expulsion from the DAP in 1998 on grounds that he had sullied the party’s image, he formed the Malaysian Democratic Party in a forlorn bid to stay afloat politically amidst continuing legal wrangles stemming from action taken against him in 1993 by the MBf group for imputing to it corporate malfeasance.
He tried to join PKR in 1999 at the height of the reformasi movement but Chandra Muzaffar, then PKR deputy president, decreed that DAP renegades had no place in the newly-formed party.
“I despised PKR for that decision,” Wee candidly admitted in an interview with Malaysiakini. “I thought the party had little regard for principles. Here was a party named for justice keeping out people fighting for the self-same cause.”
Thus Wee was pleasantly surprised when he learned late last week, despite not having disbanded MDP, that he was PKR’s candidate to contest in Wangsa Maju which has 54,509 voters of which 52% are Malays, 38% Chinese and 8% Indians.
No doubt, he has been within the catchment area multi-racial PKR views as its natural recruiting grounds but he was not keen to join, the memory of his spurning in 1999 still rankling.
Brought together by Lingam tape
When PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim released the Lingam video last September that purported to show lawyer VK Lingam allegedly brokering judicial appointments, Wee sprang into action, more from exculpatory motives than retributive ones.
The judge being spoken to on the videotape was allegedly Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim who in August 1995, sitting as election judge, nullified Wee’s election to the Bukit Bintang parliamentary seat in the April 1995 general election and handed victory on a silver platter to his defeated MCA opponent - a bizarre decision based on the RM7,000 fine imposed on Wee a day before nomination day in April. A fine of RM1,000 and jail term of not less than one year disqualifies candidates for elective office.
Wee was counsel to Thirunama Karasu (photo, right), VK Lingam’s younger brother and former factotum, in the recent inquiry of the royal commission that probed the circumstances of the tape. Thirunama was a witness in the inquest.
The collateral damage to reputations stemming from the royal commission’s probe dangled the possibility of Wee’s vindication in the matter of the election petition of August 1995 that deprived of a seat in Parliament. Moreover, last year the courts also lifted all legal restrictions on Wee stemming from the MBf action and granted him costs. His 14-year run of legal wrangles had ended.
All this, of course, will be icing on the cake should Wee wrest the Wangsa Maju seat from the MCA incumbent Yew Teong Look, which he retained in 2004 with a whopping 10,000-vote majority. Even if Wee does not win, he found a home of sorts last Friday when PKR vice-president Azmin Ali introduced him to a crowd of party supporters in the constituency.
“When they heard that I was born in Kelantan and when they heard me speak logat Kelante (Kelantanese dialect) they drummed the tables and cheered and welcomed me as one of them,” said Wee.
Apparently, Wangsa Maju’s Kelantanese fringe has already given Malaysian politics’ Flying Dutchman berthing rights.
Wee Choo Keong, PKR’s candidate for the mixed-race parliamentary constituency of Wangsa Maju in the Federal Territory, had been in a kind of legal limbo from 1993 to 2007, a 14-year run of troubles compounded by ejections not only from his seat of Kuala Lumpur Bandar (later Bukit Bintang) in 1995, but also from his former party, DAP. “I was like the Flying Dutchman with no port of call,” said 53-year-old Kota Bharu-born and Penang-raised lawyer, alluding to the legend of the ship captain who was doomed to sail the oceans because no port would allow him to dock.
After Wee’s expulsion from the DAP in 1998 on grounds that he had sullied the party’s image, he formed the Malaysian Democratic Party in a forlorn bid to stay afloat politically amidst continuing legal wrangles stemming from action taken against him in 1993 by the MBf group for imputing to it corporate malfeasance.
He tried to join PKR in 1999 at the height of the reformasi movement but Chandra Muzaffar, then PKR deputy president, decreed that DAP renegades had no place in the newly-formed party.
“I despised PKR for that decision,” Wee candidly admitted in an interview with Malaysiakini. “I thought the party had little regard for principles. Here was a party named for justice keeping out people fighting for the self-same cause.”
Thus Wee was pleasantly surprised when he learned late last week, despite not having disbanded MDP, that he was PKR’s candidate to contest in Wangsa Maju which has 54,509 voters of which 52% are Malays, 38% Chinese and 8% Indians.
No doubt, he has been within the catchment area multi-racial PKR views as its natural recruiting grounds but he was not keen to join, the memory of his spurning in 1999 still rankling.
Brought together by Lingam tape
When PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim released the Lingam video last September that purported to show lawyer VK Lingam allegedly brokering judicial appointments, Wee sprang into action, more from exculpatory motives than retributive ones.
The judge being spoken to on the videotape was allegedly Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim who in August 1995, sitting as election judge, nullified Wee’s election to the Bukit Bintang parliamentary seat in the April 1995 general election and handed victory on a silver platter to his defeated MCA opponent - a bizarre decision based on the RM7,000 fine imposed on Wee a day before nomination day in April. A fine of RM1,000 and jail term of not less than one year disqualifies candidates for elective office.
Wee was counsel to Thirunama Karasu (photo, right), VK Lingam’s younger brother and former factotum, in the recent inquiry of the royal commission that probed the circumstances of the tape. Thirunama was a witness in the inquest. The collateral damage to reputations stemming from the royal commission’s probe dangled the possibility of Wee’s vindication in the matter of the election petition of August 1995 that deprived of a seat in Parliament. Moreover, last year the courts also lifted all legal restrictions on Wee stemming from the MBf action and granted him costs. His 14-year run of legal wrangles had ended.
All this, of course, will be icing on the cake should Wee wrest the Wangsa Maju seat from the MCA incumbent Yew Teong Look, which he retained in 2004 with a whopping 10,000-vote majority. Even if Wee does not win, he found a home of sorts last Friday when PKR vice-president Azmin Ali introduced him to a crowd of party supporters in the constituency.
“When they heard that I was born in Kelantan and when they heard me speak logat Kelante (Kelantanese dialect) they drummed the tables and cheered and welcomed me as one of them,” said Wee.
Apparently, Wangsa Maju’s Kelantanese fringe has already given Malaysian politics’ Flying Dutchman berthing rights.
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