Saifuddin: Slightly late nominations accepted, up to Nurul on No. 2

Saifuddin

Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle

UPDATE 2 PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution has announced that the party's political bureau had during its weekly meeting decided to accept the nominations of six divisions who sent in their lists after the October 10 deadline.

He stressed that the nominations were accepted only because they weren't unduly late and blasted the branches who had complained that they had not been informed of such a deadline.

"That is an outright lie. Malaysiakini has been reporting all the time-lines including the October 10 closing date for our nominations for more than a month now. I asked their reporter, how did they get the information, and they told me they downloaded from the PKR sec-gen website," Saifuddin told Malaysia Chronicle.

"Now if the media has the initiative to do so, what excuses do our own PKR division leaders have. Isn't it a shame? And worst still, to use it to attack their own party."

Nurul yet to decide, Oct 16 deadline

Saifuddin also warned contestants to abide by good ethics and not to drag their party colleagues into each others' political rivalry. He said the outcome of the political bureau's decision to accept the late nominations was not new and usually done in the past although overly late submissions were frowned on.

The implication of the latest decision means that fast-rising Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah, the daughter of de-facto head Anwar Ibrahim, has now qualified to join the bitterly-contested deputy presidential race. Up to the closing deadline, Nurul only had one nomination. With the deadline relaxed, she now has more than the minimum two nominations to join the fray.

However, it is not clear if the 30-year old will do so because she has only just announced she will go for one of the four vice-presidencies. That itself will be a tough fight as she will be up against party titans like Fuziah Salleh, Lee Boon Chye, Sivarasa Rasiah, Shamsul Iskandar, Mustapha Kamil, Tian Chua and even lead deputy presidential contestant Azmin Ali.

Saifuddin declined to speculate if Nurul would contest, saying it was her decision and she had yet to inform the secretariat of whether she would go for the deputy presidency or vice presidency.

"There has been a lot of mischief caused by wrong reporting. The political bureau accepted because the nominations came one day late. No harm in that. Of these nominations, some were for Nurul. This means that she qualifies to go for the deputy presidency. Whether she does is up to her, she has until October 16 to decide. We hope the press will not play up or twist the issue," Saifuddin said.

Internal fighting gets dirtier with Zaid seen as desperate

PKR has been wracked by an internal jostling for power, in particular by FT chief Zaid Ibrahim, who has tried hard to win over the grassroots for the PKR No. 2 post. He has waged a heated fight against Azmin but failed to overcome the long-time vice-president, garnering only 38 nominations versus Azmin's 102.

Nurul and dear old dad Anwar

Zaid's camp, which includes Padang Serai MP N Gobalakrishnan, Kapar MP S Manikavasagam and Kelana Jaya Loh Gwo Burne, has been among those quick to accuse the PKR leadership and Azmin of trying to manipulate the party elections.

However, some pundits point out that it is Zaid himself who started the war by accusing Azmin of "Umno-culture", and later when he could not surpass Azmin, offered out-of-the-blue to back out of the No. 2 race if Nurul decided to go for the deputy presidency.

His offer shocked party members as Nurul had never indicated such an interest. When the elections began, she only targeted the Lembah Pantai chief post, upgrading only to VP when she received more than 30 nominations.

Zaid is due to hold a press conference on Friday, and Gobalakrishnan has already threatened to quit PKR as he claims the party was trying to rig the elections so that Nurul could not contest.

"These are people whose logic is so funny. Why would Anwar or Azmin want to stop Nurul from going for No.2 in such a way. They say Azmin is Anwar's doormat. In that case, all Anwar needs to do is advise his very loving daughter not to go for No. 2, stick with the VP," a PKR elder told Malaysia Chronicle.

"Why the need for such a clumsy move, isn't it stupid? Again, this will boomerang back on the Zaid camp. At every stage, they have been routed and the main reason is becaue they keep deploying this sort of low tactics. Now they will say, Anwar bent the rules to push Nurul for No. 2 - nepotism - you wait and see."

The changing dynamics of the No. 2 race

The divisions that made the most noise in accusing the PKR national leadership of trying to block Nurul from the No. 2 race are linked to the Zaid cartel, which also consists of Sabah vice-president Jeffrey Kitingan and businessman John Soh Chee Wen.

Konsensus Bebas

Indeed, many PKR members believe Zaid has burnt his bridges with the party. They expect him to resign soon, perhaps after the party election. The recent announcement by Selangor Mentri Besar Khalid Ibrahim to join the No. 2 contest already dooms his chances.

Both Khalid and Zaid will depend been on the same source for votes - the 'reformist members' in PKR, who are mostly from the urban areas and joined the party for the sake of bringing change to Malaysia. They are expected to give their vote to Khalid rather Zaid because the MB is better known to them. Nevertheless, party watchers say the lead is still with Azmin.

Meanwhile, Zaid's supporters have been openly calling for the formation of a third bloc. They are expected to align themselves to Konsensus Bebas - a group of 5 independent MPs, who were former PKR members. The leaders are Bayan Baru's Zahrain Hashim and Kulim Bandar Bharu's Zulkfli Noordin.