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Friday, April 26, 2013

If I join BN sue me, Arul tells Semenyih folk (Malaysiakini)

4:24PM Apr 25, 2013  
SELANGOR Parti Sosialis Malaysia’s (PSM) Semenyih candidate S Arutchelvan has pledged he will not join BN if he wins, and has invited the residents to sue him in event of a breach.

He was commenting during the signing of an ‘Akujanji’ document with the residents at a ceramah in Taman Sri Tanjung last night.

In the 12-point agreement, Arutchelvan pledges to declare his assets yearly, be a full-time wakil rakyat (people’s representative) with transparency and integrity, and vows not to hold positions in any corporate body.

NONE“We will start the process of creating a Majlis Perundingan Rakyat (People’s Consultative Council, or MPR). It’s like a parliament in our area. Normally, the wakil rakyat only goes to the Parliament and is disconnected from the constituents. But here, we’re going to have a MPR session once every three months,” said Arutchelvan (right in photo). 

This move is accompanied by the setting up of resident committees in every area so that they can work together to solve the public’s problems, while encouraging participatory democracy in the country.

“Every year we will do a report card, and show you what we do so that you can check,” he added.

“And the most important part of the 'Akujanji' - I will not join BN if I win; some people say that I’m sponsored by Johan Abdul Aziz (BN’s candidate in Semenyih), but neither will I jump ship to change parties,” he said to laughter from the crowd.

During the signing ceremony between the representative of the residents and Arutchelvan, he also said that should he fail to fulfill all the 12 points in the 'Akujanji', the residents can take him to court.

NONEAt the moment, only the PSM candidates - Dr Mohd Nasir Hashim (right) in Kota Damansara, Dr D Jeyakumar in Sungai Siput and M Sarasvathy in Jelapang - have signed such pledges with their constituents. 

None of the candidates from BN and Pakatan Rakyat have done this so far.

Semenyih is embroiled in a three-corner fight between PSM’s Arutchelvan, PKR’s Serdang division chief Hamidi Hassan and BN’s candidate, Umno local division chief Johan. 

In the last general election, Arutchelvan stood under the PKR banner in exchange of the Bukit Lanjan state seat to PKR, but then lost by 1,140 votes to BN’s Johan.

Public support for Arul

It is noted that various civil society organisations have come out publicly to support Arutchelvan in his bid to contest the Semenyih state seat. 

Yesterday, a group of leaders of local Chinese organisations and civil right activists, namely seasoned political commentator Lee Ban Chen, prominent human rights activist Dr Kua Kia Soong, chairperson of the Civil Rights Committee of the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH) Liau Kok Fah and Anne Ooi - or better known as 'Auntie Bersih’ - have also been spotted actively campaigning for Arutchelvan.

NONERepresentative of KLSCAH Youth Kong Wee Cheng, representative of the LLG Foundation Development Centre Civil Society Committee Lee Soo Wei, representative of Malaysian Youth and Student Democratic Movement (DEMA) Yong Kin Yin, academic Lew Bon Hoi were also seen giving their support to the PSM secretary-general. 

For them, Arutchelvan is the best candidate for Semenyih as he has always been at the forefront to fight for the struggles of the grassroots and campaigns against the corruption of the BN government.

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