2008 was a great year for Pakatan Rakyat for it outperformed its own expectations having successfully increased their number of seats and consequently capturing four (now three) states (Kedah, Penang and Perak) while retaining Kelantan. One of the parliamentary seats the opposition pact won was the Padang Serai seat which was contested and won by then PKR strongman N Gobalakrishnan. Malaysian Digest recently caught up with Gobalakrishnan to find out in the run-up to the 13th General Election.
In the battle for Padang Serai, Sitiawan-born Gobalakrishnan (pic) defeated Boey Chin Gan from Barisan Nasional (BN) with a 11,738 majority. He managed to get 28,774 votes while Chin got 17,036 votes. The incumbent for that seat was Lim Bee Kau from BN.
All was looking well for Gobalakrishnan; that is until he had a fall out with his de facto party leader Anwar Ibrahim. He was also arrested a few times for various charges. In one incident in September 2009, he was arrested for allegedly using criminal force to obstruct a police officer and subsequently found guilty and fined RM3,000 for the offense. The incident was just one of the many sacrifices he made for Anwar and PKR.
In December 2010, he finally spoke out against Anwar by saying that he can’t work with the Opposition leader anymore because he (Anwar) “only makes use of people to benefit his family and (PKR deputy president) Azmin Ali.” Despite all the sacrifices he made for the party during his 12 years as Anwar Ibrahim’s strong supporter, Gobalakrishnan soon resigned from PKR to be an independent MP. He also announced his plans to form a non-governmental organization (NGO). Gobalakrishnan wasn’t the only one to opt out as Datuk Zulkifli Noordin, Datuk Seri Zahrain Hashim, Tan Tee Beng and Mohsin Fadzli Samsuri were among those who also took part in the exodus to form the ‘Konsensus Bebas’.
Recently, Gobalakrishnan had told Malaysian Digest that there are hundreds of PKR members from the bottom up to the MPs who want to leave the party. The reason these disgruntled PKR members haven’t done so, he said, is because they have a fear of being accused of receiving payments to leave the party.
“Today I can say that hundreds of party leaders who want to leave Keadilan but they have a fear of being accused of receiving money to do so,” he said.
“The fact is, Anwar himself is the one who is able to buy politicians. We saw in the ADUN (state assemblymen) Bota, Datuk Nasarudin Hashim’s case where Anwar said we must make sure he (Nasrudin) must not go back to Barisan Nasional (BN) even if it would cost RM20 million.
“The fact is that Nasarudin only saw him (Anwar) as a friend, but Anwar assume that he has jumped ship and tried to keep him (in PKR),” he added.
He added that Anwar is a man who is willing to do anything just to make sure that he achieves his ambition to be the Prime Minister.
“This is Anwar, the man who is living in the dream world,” he said.
Gobalakrishnan claimed that all the political leaders who have been working with Anwar are the bad apples from Umno and BN. The ones who are really sincere in the struggle have left Anwar and PKR either to rejoin their old party or to be Independent leaders, he said. He also claimed that this group who wants to leave PKR will be voting for BN in the next election as they have seen how “evil” Anwar is.
Malaysian Digest also asked him to comment on The Malaysian Indian United Party president Datuk S Nallakarupan’s allegation that Anwar is bisexual. To this, he said he believes Nallakarupan’s claim as the latter has known Anwar for a very long time so he obviously knows many of Anwar’s secrets.
“I was with Anwar for 12 years. Nallakaruppan was longer. Maybe 30 years. There is much that he had revealed (about Anwar). But I believe that it’s only a glint of much more (about Anwar’s alleged bisexual activities) that will be exposed by Nallakaruppan,” said Gobalarishnan.
He said the disclosures made by Nallakaruppan clearly show that Anwar is a real hypocrite.
“My friends like (senator) Ezam (Mohd Nor), Zahid Md Arip, Ruslan Kassim, Hanafiah Man and many others had built Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) to what it is today when Anwar was languishing in prison.
“We give everything we had to build the party,” he said.
On the 13th General Election which is rumored to be held within a few months’ time, Gobalakrishnan confirmed that he will defend his seat and will be contesting as an independent candidate. He said one of the reasons why he decided to defend his seat is because he loves to help the people in the constituency. He also sarcastically said that if he’s not in the Dewan Rakyat anymore, Anwar will surely going to miss him.
- mD
