LETTER | It has been unsettling to watch people relentlessly condemn the MP for Subang, Wong Chen. Isn’t it a completely normal and human thing to occasionally have a different opinion than that of another person?

When YB Wong Chen supported his good friend, the former MP for Pandan Rafizi Ramli, even I, as a strong supporter, felt that perhaps their displeasure shouldn’t have been made public at that point, given that it was a critical time in our country.

Having said that, I also do understand where Wong and Rafizi were coming from. Everyone has conveniently chosen to forget the dictatorship that we were under for so many years.

Our former leaders were authoritarians and we had little democracy. Our newly-elected leaders could very well slip into their old ways if they are not put in their place immediately.

Pakatan Harapan is a coalition and they very well have to start making decisions as a coalition. The decisions that are made from here on are most certainly not up to merely one or a few individuals.

To discount the abundant efforts of Wong and Rafizi and their capabilities as leaders is ridiculous and unfair. Rafizi has sacrificed so much because he believed in standing up for what was right. How many of us “righteous” citizens would be willing to trade our comfortable lives for a jail cell in the name of justice being served?

And Wong, dare I say, is one of the most brilliant leaders in our country. He values good research and comes up with sustainable solutions to the issues that we as a nation face. How many MPs have truly taken the time and effort to ensure that good research is being done?

The honest answer: not as many as we’d hope. Wong always gives back to the people to the best of his abilities; he’s got his priorities straight and above all, he is so down-to-earth and real!

These are our heroes; people who have gone above and beyond for us. Don’t downplay years of efforts and sacrifices over something so trivial in the grand scheme of things. They have been doing a fantastic job and should be encouraged for doing so. It would be a shame to forget that.