No standing in for elected representatives, please...

Datuk Seri Syed Ali Alhabshee

It’s the biggest joke I have heard in a while.

Chief Ministers from the Opposition-led states of Penang and Selangor are apparently willing to do a trapeze act, bending over backwards, to look after Permatang Pauh and Kajang in the event Wan Azizah Wan Ismail is not able to carry out her duties.

Wan Azizah, President of the Opposition PKR, is also currently the state assemblyperson for Kajang and in the event she wins the by-election in the next few days, will become the Member of Parliament for Permatang Pauh.

It’s the seat she vacated for her husband, Anwar Ibrahim, when his sodomy conviction was overturned by the Federal Court.

Wan Azizah said she was retiring to take care of her grandchildren.

Winning the gold medal from the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin is certainly a feat. Well done, Wan Azizah.

But this achievement does not mean she will make a good lawmaker and state assemblyperson.

And it’s ludicrous for Lim Guan Eng and Azmin Ali to say they would occasionally pop in to check if all is glitzy in Permatang Pauh and Kajang.

Elected representatives have a duty to their constituents, who vote them in trusting their aspirations and needs would be taken care of.

There are already complaints that Wan Azizah is hardly in Kajang. And we all know, only too well, that she would not be able to effectively carry out her duties as state lawmaker and MP as it involves moving between Kuala Lumpur and Permatang Pauh regularly.

PKR could have picked someone else who could actually do the job, if the candidate wins. But now it’s apparent that either Wan Azizah is the only capable one in the entire party or the party has waved the green flag for Anwar’s family dynasty to flourish.

Whatever the reasons are, the people who vote Wan Azizah in are the ones who would eventually bear the brunt of this family’s greed for power.