COMMENT | Now we have pride in defections

COMMENT | Defections are nothing new. In fact, it has become a fabric in our political sphere that we have come to anticipate and expect to happen.

I remember, at the height of defections in March last year, I wanted to create a website to tabulate all the defections because I was losing track of the drama.

But I realise there is no point tabulating defections because our defectors have changed in their quality. There is no shame, embarrassment nor remorse. Instead, our politics have descended to the point where, now, there is pride.

We need to trace to 2009, where the Perak state government endured one of the most infamous defections in our country’s history, to know how low we have fallen. Besides attracting a high-profile constitutional argument, the incident was notorious because it was rare for defections to happen back then.

The defections of the three Pakatan Rakyat state assemblypersons happened quietly behind closed doors. The defectors acted like they were still loyal to the party they were serving, while a deal was struck behind the scenes.

When it happened, there was a chorus of calling them traitors of the people’s mandate. Even though BN was the beneficiary of the defection, there was no pride in attracting the three defectors.

At that time, shame was a prevalent side effect for orchestrating defection that...