“And never think He is unaware of injustice and what the wrongdoers do...” Qur’an 14:42.

These past weeks this Ayah (verse) in Surah (chapter) Ibrahim (prophet Abraham) has given me comfort. At the same time, I feel tested. These past weeks have brought the injustice I have experienced in politics back to the forefront of my life, and it seems to be an invitation to strengthen my faith in Allah - the origin of love, the creator of the universe, the singular God that is referred to in the Torah in Hebrew as “Elohim”, or spoken by Jesus in Aramaic as the strikingly similar “Allaha”.

The injustice I have experienced in politics refers to both my time as Member of the Dutch Parliament (MP), as well as when I left the political arena. As MP within the D66 faction, I felt as though I’m being treated differently than other MP’s. This feeling was upsetting and made me not feel safe. I also felt confused, unsure if what I thought I was experiencing was really happening. The cowardly support of some fellow MP’s in the D66 faction during one on one conversations in my office, confirmed to me this was really happening. I worried about what I could do about it.

The unfair treatment took a variety of forms, like bullying, being laughed at, being ignored, being humiliated and more insidious things like having my work criticised more harshly than others’. To this day I don’t know why - why the attempt to destroy my self-esteem? What I do know is that as a former military officer I can take a lot, but eventually I faded away under this fear-based leadership. Being a member of the Parliamentary Inquiry Committee on Housing Associations - known for its outstanding public hearings - saved me and became the best proof that I was an excellent MP outside of D66.

Also other experiences in the fear-based culture of the workspace, made me feel suffocated within the D66 faction and I realized I cannot be myself and give my best in this work environment. As soon as my work in the Parliamentary Inquiry Committee was done, I decided to leave and I have shared this straight away with the political leader of D66. Despite everything I had experienced, I wanted to leave in harmony and I even said clearly that I am not writing off politics but simply cannot continue in these circumstances.

It took one year, from my decision to leave politics to actually leaving, because - despite my efforts to leave in harmony with my political party D66 - I was not free to go. The suffocation I was already experiencing increased, read here the whole story in Dutch. When I finally left the political arena I had to face a new level of injustice: while I gave my promise to stay quiet, to communicate as one front with the media via my political party D66 and not harm anyone(‘s reputation), the leader(s) of D66 chose to deliberately harm my reputation.

Me leaving the Dutch Parliament had nothing to do with redundancy pay (in Dutch “wachtgeld”) or Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, but everything to do with unfair treatment, unsafety and a fear-based culture in the workspace as Member of the Dutch Parliament. In one word: injustice. I was willing to never speak about my experiences as MP, provided there would be mutual protection. But no one protected me, on the contrary.

In my years as a Member of the Dutch Parliament, I have only had professional and business relationships and contacts with everyone in politics; and still some journalists tried to damage my reputation with scandalous gossip. Even old party celebrities felt the need to speak out about me. For weeks I was news in the Netherlands. It was unbelievable. Only recently in a personal conversation with two journalists, it was confirmed to me that the commotion around me leaving was deliberately created and initiated by D66.

The only explanation I can think of for this injustice is the panic to protect, at all costs, those responsible for me leaving politics - including the way I left. All my experiences felt like putting together a puzzle. A puzzle of how power and politics in the hands of political parties actually works, including the role of the media. The puzzle reveals that political parties operate like democratic dictatorships. The so-called “party leadership” is a small group of people who hide behind “the party” and operate non-transparently in the world of power.

In the Netherlands political parties seized power in 1917 and since then - with their tentacles reaching into the heart of public administration - have become systems that, to say the least, undermine and, to put it strongly, damage our democracy. To think that the Dutch Constitution does not even recognize political parties. Members of the Parliament should be independent representatives; and not the “career politicians” of political parties they now are - people driven by position, status, money and power.

My personal experiences of injustice as (former) Member of the Dutch Parliament have been the toughest thing I have ever dealt with. It is in my character to never feel like a victim; for me being victimized means giving my power away. For years now, I have been tolerating and forbearing injustice. Though I have never accepted it, I have tried to move on with my life and I have used opportunities for change to speak up, take responsibility and contribute to improving the control of power, the game of politics and the role of media.

My most recent effort of change for good - to not only seek justice for myself, but also for others who (have) suffer(ed) the same kind of injustice and to prevent it from happening again - was stepping up as candidate for D66 political leadership with one mission: the abolition of political parties and the reintroduction of independent representatives. It is actually a mission to respect the Dutch Constitution. Let’s face it, D66 is not the only political party that shines in a culture of fear in the work space. Damaging someone’s reputation has now become top sport in political party politics.

This brings me back to these past weeks, because me stepping up as candidate has added again a new level of injustice - as mind-boggling as it is. As loud as the deliberately created commotion was around me leaving politics as MP, it was just as quiet around my candidacy. I'm just being silenced. As a matter of fact, D66 as the political party of democrats had no democratic election for its political leadership. The hypocrisy is not only shocking, but alarming at best and disgusting at worst.

These past weeks show also the shocking double standard in Dutch power, politics and media. (Former) Politicians who have (more) justified damaged reputations can count on the national media for repairing. From a reputation damaged just a few years ago for wrongly received redundancy pay, this year being repaired by launching this person as favorite candidate for prime minister; to my then political leader whose reputation knows several serious "incidents", yet it can never be bad enough, he can count on his reputation to be cleaned and polished in the media every time.

The question is: why not repair a wrongly damaged reputation? It is never too late to fix any injustice; it ensures that a lesson is learned that ultimately benefits everyone. However, so far the injustice seems to continue unabated - as if there is a plan involved - and the pain associated with injustice intensifies for me. There seems to me only one way out: relinquish the matter to a higher power, Allah.

Despite everything written, in a way I am grateful to be tested. Like prophet Muhammed ﷺ said: “Allah tests those He love.” What usually helps my aching heart recover is the word of God: the Qur’an. Qur’an means literally the recitation and is also explained as reading with understanding and learning.

“Indeed the wrongdoers contrived their plan, but it is in Allah's power to nullify their plan, even if their plans were such that would move even mountains.” Qur’an 14:46

Wassila Hachchi

September 20, 2023