FOLLOWING the resignation of Wangsa Maju MP Wee Choo Keong from the PKR, there had been speculations that party leaders are bracing for more desertions of lawmakers from the party.

Word has it that one Member of Parliament and three state assemblymen from the PKR - all from Kedah - were planning to jump ship, together with an MP from Selangor.

A DAP lawmaker from Kedah was also said to be considering a similar move.

There has since been a series of denials by several legislators but political observers find that statements refuting such talk cannot be taken seriously in the light of what had previously occurred.

Take Wee, for instance. He had vehemently denied that he would be leaving the PKR and had even crossed swords with Jelutong MP Jeff Ooi in early February over the issue , to the extent of threatening to sue the DAP blogger over the allegations.

Ooi did not name anybody but the speculations then was that Wee and Kelana Jaya MP Loh Gwo Burne were among those who would be leaving. The other two would be from Penang.

Ooi's speculations held true northern MPs, Zahrain Mohamed Hashim (Bayan Baru) and Tan Tee Beng (Nibong Tebal), who were both at loggerheads with DAP secretary-general and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng. They left in a huff.

As they quarreled, the dissenting voices in the PKR grew louder and also led to the exit of Bagan Serai MP Mohsin Fadzil Samsuri (who resigned) and maverick Kulim-Bandar Baru MP Zulkifli Noordin (who was sacked).

Eventually, it was Wee's turn to bid farewell to the PKR and, on the way out, he made a lot of caustic remarks that implied more people would be leaving the party because of a leadership that had veered away from its goals.

In recent weeks, the guessing game started to make its rounds again: who will be the next PKR assemblyman or MP to make the exit from the party?

Not long after Wee left the party, an SMS started circulating all over Selangor that Kapar parliamentarian S Manickavasagam was planning to leave the party after he brought up the issue of alleged corrupt dealings in a state government-linked company, Semesta Sdn Bhd (KSSB) over some sand mining deals.

Mani, Gopal staying put

Mentri Besar Khalid Ibrahim acted swiftly and said that the matter would be referred to the Select Committee for Accountability, Competency and Transparency (Selcat) and, on his advice,

Manickavasagam went on to lodge a police report over the matter.

The SMS, which the Kapar MP claimed later to be a hoax, was not as bad as what else followed after he made his accusations about the alleged corrupt sand business.

He started to receive death threats, he claimed. And if that was not enough, some culprits went over to his home in Meru in the early hours of a weekend morning to splash paint over his car and parts of the house.

Despite this severe treatment, Manickavasagam (right) has stated he is staying put in PKR and would continue with his struggle to "bring about a clean administration."

And, just recently, after the Selangor parliamentarian made his stand, Padang Serai MP N Gopalakrishnan was rumoured to be making his move to leave the PKR.

It was also speculated that he would lead three PKR state assemblymen and one from the DAP to also resign from their parties.

The rumours were so widespread that Gopalakrishnan was forced to make a media statement that he had no intention to quit the PKR, for which he had struggled over the past 10 years.

The rumours, he said, were meant to ridicule him and to cause discord in the party.

Gopalakrishnan reportedly said: "There is, in my dictionary, no word of leaving the PKR and there is also no intention of me vacating my parliamentary seat."

When the rumours were spreading, not surprisingly it was PAS that was feeling the jitters.

PAS, which has 16 seats in the Kedah state assembly, shares the state administration with the PKR (three seats ) and DAP (one).

The other seats are held by the Barisan Nasional (14) and two independents who were formerly PKR reps: Mohd Radzhi Salleh (Lunas) and Tan Wei Shu (Bakar Arang).

The state assembly, however, has ruled that the Kota Siputeh seat, held by the Barisan's Abu Hasan Sarif, is vacant following his failure to attend two consecutive assembly sittings last year without leave.

The case is still pending in court following an appeal.

Four Kedah lawmakers

Nevertheless, it worries PAS that if the four rumoured to be defecting actually carry out the move, the state administration would turn over to the Barisan, as it had happened in Perak.

The four state legislators implicated in the rumours were S Manikumar (Bukit Selambau), Lim Soo Nee (Kulim) and Tan Chow Kang (Sidam), from the PKR, and Lee Guan Aik (Kota Darul Aman) from the DAP.

The PKR, however, has assured Mentri Besar Azizan Abdul Razak (right) that the party would not hesitate to take legal action against those who were spreading such rumours.

Kedah PKR chairman Ahmad Kassim said: "This is our final warning because if there is any more speculation like this, we will trace the source and sue the person in court."

Notwithstanding this, the rumours prompted PAS to organise a ceramah at its Kota Sarang Semut base on Saturday night specifically to talk about the issue of 'party hopping' and it invited the four to make a public declaration that they would not desert the Pakatan.

In a rare portrayal of opposition lawmakers on national television, TV3 showed excerpts of the huge gathering on its 'Buletin Utama' slot on Sunday night, focussing on comments by Soo Nee, who admitted there were problems between them and the state leadership.

The Kulim rep said the leadership has to come to terms with the fact that not many members are happy in the coalition and some changes need to be done to bring back public confidence in the Pakatan, and especially in the PKR.

He, however, said that he and his colleagues in the PKR and DAP had no intention of quitting the Pakatan state government or their respective parties.

Tan said in his speech that he had grown weary and tired over the speculation that he would quit, adding: "It's not like a good song that is worth listening to again and again. These speculations are just stupid.

"I am tired of responding to the same issues. Let it all stop tonight," said the Sidam assemblyman, adding that once and for all let it be known that he has no intention of leaving the party.

The rumours and speculations of party members leaving the PKR, said party insiders, were started by Umno and the Barisan as a devious way to draw MPs and state assemblymen away from the alternative front to the Barisan.

Celebrated defections

But Barisan observers are amused by such reasoning as, they pointed out, the PKR had lost about 10 legislators since the last general election in 2008. Some had left on their own, others were either sacked or had lost in elections.

Hee Yit Foong...now a Datuk

The two reps, along with DAP deserter Hee Yit Fong (Jelapang), were blamed for the fall of the Pakatan government in Perak after they resigned from their parties in February last year to become Barisan Nasional-friendly Independents.

Mohd Osman and Jamaluddin were acquitted of the corruption charges against them without their defence being called by the Ipoh Sessions Court on April 23 while Hee, a deputy Speaker in the Perak state assembly, has since been made a 'Datuk.'

On Monday, the Federal Court in Putrajaya dismissed an application by ousted Perak state assembly Speaker V Sivakumar to aside a decision by another Federal Court panel, which allowed the three assemblyman to retain their seats.

PAS secretary-general Mustafa Ali maintains that the Pakatan government in Kedah could not be toppled by under-counter tactics.

"The temptation to crossover could be great, but we are glad that our comrades are not tempted,'' he told a press conference Sunday.

SHAH A DADAMEAH is senior editor with Malaysian Mirror.