We have the Avengers, the X-Men and the Expendables. Now, enter the Liberos. Unlike the others, it is not at all a Hollywood box-office product but a political entity formed to rid Selangor DAP of Napoleons.
A formidable group comprising disgruntled current and former loyal members and supporters, Liberos members claim to be victims of the DAP’s Lim Dynasty.
The term was coined by the grassroots to taunt the faction led by national adviser and Ipoh Timur MP Lim Kit Siang and his son and secretary-general Guan Eng, who is the Penang Chief Minister.
Members of Liberos claim that they had have been sidelined, isolated, bullied and booted out by certain Selangor DAP politicians, described as “Napoleons of the Lim Dynasty”.
Now the Liberos has declared war and vowed to launch an all-out campaign to flush out the “Napoleons” from politics altogether.
Its targets: party disciplinary board head and Cheras MP Tan Kok Wai, Selangor DAP chief and Seputeh MP Teresa Kok, Pandamaran assemblyman Ronnie Liu and PJ Utara MP Tony Pua.
Also in its sights are Kajang municipal councilor Lee Kee Hiong, Teratai assembly person Jenice Lee, Serdang MP Teo Nie Ching, and Selangor DAP secretary and Seri Kembangan assemblyman Ean Yong Hian Wah.
The Liberos members were actually DAP loyalists who initially hoped the party would provide the people a government with a difference in the 2008 general election.
But four years later, they realised that was not to be. They alleged that the Napoleons were guilty of mismanagement of the DAP and the Pakatan Rakyat government in Selangor.
They said the Napoleons were not people-oriented, but egoistical, selfish and greedy leaders who want to dominate everything and anything to protect their own interests.
The group pointed out that Kok, for instance, besides being Kinrara assembly person, a MP and an executive council member, also sits as paid director in many government-link companies (GLCs).
“But her service and contributions to her constituents and people of Selangor are negligible,” the group members claimed.
DAP had abandoned socialist ideals
Anti-Teresa Kok banners were put up in Kinrara constituency recently to stress this point.
“Press conferences, rallies and releasing cash aids to their cronies have been hallmarks of their service to the voters, nothing else,” the group claimed.
The Liberos accused the Napoleons of being involved in misappropriations of funds, corruption, abuses of power, gangsterism and vice activities in the last four years.
The group cited the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) report on Teoh Beng Hock case to substantiate its claim.
Liberos accused the Napoleons of misusing and abusing their power to punish loyal members critical of their political governance, methodology and style.
While Kok Wai’s disciplinary board had been quick to punish these critics, the group alleged the Napoleons and their cronies have been spared. Under the Lim Dynasty, the Liberos claimed that the DAP had abandoned its socialist ideals to become a capitalist political backer.
Besides calling the DAP “Daddy Anak Party”, the group also described the party as “Developers Association of Penang”, in reference to Lim’s alleged pro-developers’ policies in the island-state.
The group derived the name “Liberos” from the football term “Libero”, a marauding last man in defence made famous by German football great “Kaizer” Franz Beckenbauer.
Now the group is determined to emulate the Kaizer to liberate the party from these Napoleons and in the process topple the Lim Dynasty.
The next general election should pit the Liberos against the Napoleons in Selangor.
Although DAP leaders and their cyber mongers would claim otherwise, the confrontation could prove fatal to not only Pakatan’s bid to retain the state government but its dream of capturing Putrajaya.
