My former Intan colleague, Hasan Ali, asserted that PAS had not given him due process of a democratic nature before they sacked him from the party. He had also said he would not appeal the sacking. Therefore, he still believes he is a member of the party and says, “I still love the party!”  

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Was that true? Or, what was his real issue of disagreement with PAS? Or was he negotiating for PAS to become more accountable and transparent, much like we have come to expect from the two states of Penang and Selangor? Is not perhaps the real question is whether such democratic and modern values of a due and transparent process even more necessary within a partisan political framework?

From my research, these issues, questions and concerns were directly related to the study of the workers’ experience of dignity or indignity in their workplaces. Unfortunately though, in all systems that have a political dimension to life and activities, often being political also means being expedient, often ignoring due processes.

Allow me to make my case.

If human beings truly have a God-ordained dignity and each of us has that same quality of dignity, then it stands to reason that the same value applies to each and every one of us. Consequently, there is also an implicit assumption of “jurisdictional stewardship of all such privileges and rights!”

But who then are the real and true custodians of such conditions or prerequisites within human communities? Who is responsible and accountable for the correctness of such actions, or the lack thereof?

In simpler language; should we hold all those in higher positions in the hierarchy of power accountable for the exercise of such so-called ‘authority?’ Is this not also the rawest exercise of power ever imaginable? But where does all such raw power truly originate from?  

In the affairs of human rights and privileges, it is from human laws and especially the UN Declaration of Human Rights, to which every nation is a signatory.

But in ultimate terms, does not all such power finally belong also to the Creator, as “author of life?” Does not all authority belong only to this Ultimate Authority? And therefore, consequently, is not all such authority an exercise of stewardship of delegated power through decision-making enabled by the laws of human affairs?

Humans are therefore only mere intermediaries or stewards; and must be held both responsible and accountable for personal actions of choice within their jurisdictional arenas of public life.

My question to PAS therefore is whether does their party, too, follow the so-called due processes of the law in terms of good human rights practice and management? Corporations, governments, or industrial organisations must comply with such human rights legislations, but are “all voluntary societies usually registered under the Registrar of Societies also required to do so?”  

Who is the final authority?

Can such wrongful dismissal of “one’s membership” become the subject of industrial or civil law?

I am also aware that many “churches or congregations of Christians” are also registered under the Registrar of Societies, and the same question applies to their “church membership rights and jurisdictional issues!” Who then is the real and final authority to expel local social or political club members from such self-selective associations, in case of wrongful dismissals?   

Our nation has observed political parties that “dismiss” their not-so-popular persons, i.e. those who fall out of the mainstream current of their thinking. The traumatic effects on the victims are often the same regardless of how the party leadership reached the decision.

The net result is always exclusionary.  

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Even Dr Mahathir Mohamad was dismissed from he original Umno, and was only reinstated much later. He still went on to become the longest-serving president of that party; even if as Umno version 2!

Therefore, I would argue that while political parties in Malaysia may not have a legal or moral compulsion to follow due processes within an industrial relations framework, the 21st century will be less forgiving of such exclusions but more demanding of the respect of basic human rights.  

Currently, their only due processes are what is already prescribed within their constitution. And such self-seeking constitutions are often biased for the incumbents and ignore foundational due processes. Nevertheless, it is a moral and spiritual issue and this concern that must be addressed by all parties who espouse democracy and human rights as a basic and fundamental value.

But, even if Hasan’s protest is real and serious, he has nevertheless decided not to appeal the party’s sacking, and therefore remains condemned. He has instead now chosen to form a third party political force, called Jati.

When Hindraf launched itself into such a ‘force,’ I had argued that it was antithetical or oxymoronic that the Hindu rights group could use ‘force!’ Now, for almost the same reasons, I would argue that Hasan Ali’s group is not a real third force, in the Haris Ibrahim or Raja Petra Kamaruddin sense of the language and concept, but rather much like Zaid Ibrahim’s Kita; merely another simply partisan political force which has not decided which coalition to fully back for the 13th GE.

Choosing what issues they will fight

The true or real “third force of positive influence” can be variously called, the 99 percent, or the Occupiers, or movement of younger people of the Arab Spring. They are not based on any partisanship per se , in a right and left sense of political ideologies.

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They are really non-partisan members of civil society who choose what issues and battles they will fight, but surely they cannot be lumped together into the “force-divided politics” of partisanship. The anti-Lynas protest is also another such third force made up of all walks of citizens and life.

Hasan Ali is a politician first and will always remain one. His entire worldview is premised upon the partisan politics of the different shades of the colour green. He may even believe that it is the colour of the air he breathes. Right now, the PAS mainstream’s shade of green is not of his preference, for now.  But, the tide may change again or later.

Therefore, he has chosen to form a new and different outlier group for now before the 13th GE. Many questions about backers and funders remain But just for the record, this third partisan status differs significantly from the rest of us in the normal civil society. Our air is still colourless and we intend to keep breathing non-coloured clean air. May God continue to bless Malaysia.