It will not come as a major shock come 8 March if DAP’s firebrand cili padi Fong Po Kuan is unseated from her Batu Gajah parliamentary constituency by MCA’s candidate Cheah Yoke Chan, an engineer by profession. Her sudden action to rescind her previous decision is bound to steal the limelight and attention away from other DAP candidates and internal party squabbles.

To Po Kuan, politics is all a game of charade. Her about-turn decision betrays the crocodile tears she displayed during her shock announcement on Sunday, 17 February 2008 blaming internal bickering.

While factionalism within DAP that divides the Opposition party is evident, Po Kuan’s tearjerker stunt, followed by steely resolves of refusing to be fielded, continued with her incommunicado status, whereby even DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang said he could not reach her, Po Kuan’s “return” was never meant to be a return, and resembles nothing more than a cheap stunt to drum up sympathy among voters.

On another hand, her never-meant-to-be resignation from contesting can be interpreted as a method to gain attention from DAP’s top bosses, namely the father and son team of Lim Kit Siang and Lim Guan Eng who managed to persuade her to come back. Her Sunday annoucement may pave the way for Po Kuan to enter the inner-circles of DAP’s top decision-making league.

Perhaps, now Po Kuan holds the trump card in DAP. The big wigs caved in to her wimpy cries pining for attention and she has turned the tables against Pantai Remis ADUN Nga Kor Ming and Perak DAP chief cum Sitiawan ADUN Ngeh Koo Nam whose jealousies and insecurities led them to pressurize Poh Kuan. The Nga-Ngeh duo earlier sought to marginalize Po Kuan and were temporarily successful can now consider themselves as persona non grata within DAP and even by their  constituents, because all blame will be laid on them for starting this Po Kuan fiasco.

What will happen next to Po Kuan’s appointed successor, Thomas Su Keong SIong whom she had proposed to be fielded in BAtu Gajah? Is he left in the lurch now? Do you want a politician like Po Kuan who treats her party, the general elections and her bosses as child’s play? If anything, Po Kuan’s decision return serves a blow to other DAP political players who have some potential.

Malaysian voters are mature, and are not easily connived, as much as DAP want to believe they are. In fact, Po Kuan has already insulted her supporters and Malaysian electors by assuming that they would fall for her puppetry skills where she is the puppet master controlling tugging strings, and Kit Siang, Guan Eng, Nga-Ngeh duo are her puppets.

Voters should also be mindful that Po Kuan’s earlier decision to withdraw was made unilaterally. She did not consult with other DAP members and her press conference was hastily arranged. For such a high risk stunt, knowing the political furore that her announcement would cause from within and from her supporters, she should have at least consulted the office bearers of DAP.

Much of DAP’s time has been wasted to persuade Po Kuan to change her mind. Guan Eng reportedly drove to Perak to talk to her, Kit Siang failed in his attempt to contact her during her incommunicado period.

Voters, beware! Can you trust someone whose credibility has been self-shredded? Her true colours have been revealed, and the hues ain’t pretty rainbow petals