Rafizi’s resignation further fuels PKR internal rift?

Yesterday PKR strategic director Rafizi Ramli resigned from his position as the chief executive officer of the Selangor Economic Advisor's Office. This seems like a new development from a series of event starting all the way from 2010.

We all know somewhere in June 2010, PKR deputy president Azmin Ali resigned from his position as a board member of the Selangor State Development Corporation (PKNS). Rumor has it that the resignation was a sign of the escalating rift between him and Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim.

It was said that Azmin was protesting against the appointment of Faekah Hussin as Khalid's new political secretary replacing Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad and that is another story. Earlier Nik Nazmi resigned from his position as political secretary to Khalid and was later appointed as the new PKR communications chief.

I am no expert but once you have leaders resigning from their positions one after another that usually means problems are looming in both the Selangor government and the Anwar Ibrahim-led opposition party. I once witnessed during a DAP convention where Khalid and Azmin were sitting far apart before being ushered by a DAP official to sit next to each other.

I know that is a very lame observation but, hey, you cannot blame me for I am not a political insider with exclusive details on the conflicts between opposition political leaders. But let us look at the last drama-filled PKR party election.

Election fraud, underhanded tactics and unfair party election are some of the terms often used to describe the 2010 PKR party election. That sounds exactly like the one Umno had. The only difference is Umno didn't have a group of leaders resigning from their post right after the election. Remember Zaid Ibrahim, Jonson Chong, Zulkifli Noordin, Zahrain Hashim and Tan Tee Beng, to name a few.

What exactly happened during that PKR election? First Nurul Izzah Anwar was allegedly denied of her right to contest for the deputy president position which eventually went to Azmin. Then there were claims by youth leader Badrul Hisham Shaharin popularly known as Chegubard on some candidates being allowed to contest even though their names were sent in after the deadline.

“When a verbal complaint was made to the election officer, the complainant was asked if he was a supporter of Badrul Hisham. A written complaint has since been ignored," claimed Chegubard.

Chegubard then went on to allege that the voter turnout during the polling in Teluk Intan and Sabah were inflated. He had claimed that the actual turnout at Sandakan and Libaran were only about 200, and not the official figures of 898 in Libaran and 456 in Sandakan. Incidentally, Azmin was the winner where he ‘swept’ virtually (almost) 100 percent of the votes at Libaran, Sandakan, Tawau and Tenom. An amazing feat considering the fact that Azmin was heavily criticized when he was the PKR chief of Sabah.

According to Chegubard, the votes for Sandakan and Libaran were not tallied at the polling center and the candidates' agents were not allowed to be present during the counting process.

In the end, the big question is: who exactly is calling the shots in PKR? Definitely not party president Wan Azizah Wan Ismail since she doesn't really have any say in the party and you don't need to be a rocket scientist in order to figure that one out.

Meanwhile, de facto leader or as they called him party advisor Anwar seems to be in agreement with any move or decision made by Azmin during the party election. Some claim that Azmin deserves the trust from Anwar since the former is the most loyal as opposed to the other former Anwar’s boys like Ezam Md Nor, Ruslan Kasim and Lokman Adam. The only problem is Azmin seems to have absolute power in the party.

Now let’s go back to Selangor. Let me remind you yet again that Rafizi who is rumored to be an Azmin’s boy, like Nik Nazmi, has just resigned from his post as CEO of the Selangor Economic Advisor's Office. Regardless of what’s his reason behind relinquishing the post, one does not quit a position of that magnitude for some trivial reason. Also, it also must be noted that, just a week ago, Rafizi had announced that he will be contesting in Pandan in the coming election, challenging the popular incumbent, former MCA president, Ong Tee Kiat.

From the look of this, Azmin gets what he wants and he gets away with things. In the movie LA Confidential, the main character created a fictional villain called Rollo Tomasi which, according to him, is the ‘guy who gets away with it’. Could Azmin be the Rollo Tomasi in PKR? I hope not. If the claims by Chegubard and other disgruntled PKR leaders are true, then there’d better a leader with guts in the party that can stand up against this. After all, justice is not just about fighting against a corrupted government but it is also about fighting corrupted leaders within your own political party.

malaysiandigest.com