By Martin Jalleh
It was an historic occasion for Hee Yit Foong. She was bestowed the honorary title “Datuk” by his Highness the Sultan of Perak, Sultan Azlan Shah, on the occasion of his 82nd birthday.
Hee must have been “hee-elated”. It was the high point of her life after having gone through the depths of great public humiliation and to contend with the hate heaped on her especially by Perakians.
Indeed, she has been hounded and abuses have been hurled on her when she did the hop-step-and-jump political dance. She hopped out of her party, stepped on the people’s will and jumped into the waiting arms of the BN as an “independent”.
During a State Assembly meeting, several DAP lawmakers gave her hell, threw RM1 notes at her and told her to resign as they said she had no honour left for selling her soul and State away!
Some in her Jelapang constituency hung an effigy of her and burnt it in a mock Chinese funeral rite! Others wanted to get their hands on her whose defection from DAP triggered BN’s takeover of Perak.
Hee was hoping that the people would be hoodwinked by her hee-haw over how she was supposedly shunned, smeared, sidelined and “squeezed out of the DAP step-by-step” by its party leaders.
She denied that she had left the party because she was hankering after a state exco seat and huffing and puffing and making a hue and cry over not being given a new Camry!
The DAP called her excuses pure humbug. They had not only groomed her to such great heights in politics but made her the first non-Malay, female and physically-disabled deputy speaker in the country’s history.
In February, Zambry harped about Hee’s “service record” and asked Perakians to give her “a chance to serve” as an assemblywoman. The rakyat of course saw no reason to give heed to the bogus MB!
Alas, the people are humoured by the State’s high recognition of Hee through the Sultan. What did she do to deserve being conferred such a title? What is the hidden reason for the crowning of this overnight “heeroine” of Zambry’s “State Government”?
Zambry’s hype about Hee’s “service record” does not really hold. Soon after she had hopped over to be independent of the people’s will and vote, she went into hiding in order to save her own hide.
Till today she has holed herself up. Her constituents in Jelapang confirm she is in hibernation. The DAP has formed the Jelapang Service Team (JST) to handle the needs of her constituents.
Further, how has Hee performed in the State Assembly? Has she contributed significantly to the debates (considering her halting Bahasa Malaysia) and to policy making? The answer is very obvious.
Two highlights of Hee’s contribution do stand out.
First, when she became “hee-sterical” and insisted that she had the power as deputy speaker to chair the Perak state assembly to get Ganesan (illegally) elected as the new speaker in the chaotic sitting.
The other instance was when she flashed a pepper spray at a PR assembly member in the House. She denied doing it but her histrionics in the State Assembly were captured on YouTube!
Surely the public cannot be blamed for its strong hunch that Hee’s datukship has very much to do with her role in helping the BN hijack the Perak State Government.
Hee Yit Foong will remain haunted for the rest of her life for having committed the “hee-nious” crime of betraying the trust of those who voted for the party that she once represented.
As Hee makes hay while the sun shines, it is very clear that she will be history when the next general election comes!
For now the rakyat of Perak has to bear up with the new Datuk’s “hee-pocrisy”!