Anwar should control Azmin’s agenda

A PKR in disarray is Anwar in disarray because we know they are one and the same.

COMMENT

Before Anwar Ibrahim can lead Pakatan Rakyat into battle with Barisan Nasional at the 13th general election, before he can ask for the people to cast their votes his way, before he can seriously think that he can be prime minister, before all this can happen, he must first put right what is wrong within PKR.

A PKR in disarray is Anwar in disarray because we know they are one and the same.

I have been told many times by those in PKR that the affairs in the party are not the concern of anyone except those in PKR.

But in an election year even how Maggi Mee and Kachip Fatimah do the marketing of their products is of interest to everybody – what more the happenings in PKR.

That is why when PKR deputy president Azmin Ali tells us that Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim will be given a Cabinet post should Pakatan win the government, we want to know whether this is Azmin talking, PKR/Anwar talking or Pakatan talking?

And more to the point, if Khalid is given a Cabinet post, who will be menteri besar of Selangor? Surely not Azmin!

The entire fracas has taken me back to January this year when we were awaiting the verdict on Anwar’s Sodomy ll trial.

What was uppermost in my mind was not whether Anwar would be found innocent or guilty of that charge. Either way, I know that the trial has already turned many of our people against Najib Tun Razak and Umno, and will hurt them where it matters most – at the ballot box.

So any verdict would be a victory for Pakatan.

Of more concern to many of us was what would happen in PKR if Anwar was incarcerated? Who would take over PKR? Surely not Azmin?

Today the same question is being asked: who will take over Khalid’s place as menteri besar of Selangor. And the reason is very simple. Khalid may have his faults but there is no questioning of his integrity and his commitment to good governance in Selangor.

Consider these:

• under him, Selangor has recorded its best financial result in 28 years;

• state government’s revenue increased by RM200 million during the first six months of this year;

• the state’s cash reserve stood at RM918 million at the end of 2010, and much higher todate;

• investment increased by RM557 million as at June 30, 2011 compared with RM668 million as at Dec 31, 2010. With the two sources combined it will be RM1,760 million compared wsith RM1,580 million for the same period in 2010;

• the state micro credit programme had distributed RM50 million to the people with money generated from debt collection; and

• the state government had now digitalised almost two million records and the cost came from the debt collection.

Azmin’s misgivings

Now what has Azmin done since he became deputy president of PKR? His battle cry during the 2010 party elections was reform: clean up and refocus on PKR.

What has he cleaned up within PKR and what has he refocused PKR towards?

Like Najib, everything that you want Azmin to do, he has promised to do or said he will do. Like Najib, all that we want him to be, he will be. Like Najib, we know that what he does within PKR is not for PKR but for the advancement of his political agenda.

So are we going to endure Azmin any more? As they say, fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.

So how is that Anwar is unable to see the misgivings we have for Azmin’s position as PKR deputy president?

Those of you who have the ability to work out in your head what is right and what is wrong in PKR will have your own thoughts of what is needed to get PKR back on to the road as a decent, responsible and accountable political entity.

For most of you no amount of idle chatter can make you stray from the very core of good government – good people make good government possible. Is Azmin one?

It is time Anwar took note of the recent statements by PAS and DAP on the comments Azmin made about the position of Khalid as Selangor menteri besar.

It is time this “Jaguh Kampung” be told that in the land of the blind, he may think he is king – but if he aspires to venture into the land of a Goliath like Khalid, then I would suggest that he is no David.

In these circumstances, I believe Anwar needs to distance himself from Azmin. You have given Azmin every opportunity to prove himself worthy of the position he now finds himself in as deputy president of PKR.

The consensus is that he has failed himself many times in the past and this latest attempt by him to position himself as the menteri besar-designate of Selangor reflects his immaturity and lack of respect for DAP and PAS, and of course yourself.

Your leap of faith in giving Azmin the deputy’s post may have some grounds given his loyal service to you from the time you were both in Umno. But Azmin is toxic. DAP does not like him. PAS does not like him.

CT Ali is a reformist who believes in Pakatan Rakyat’s ideologies. He is a FMT columnist.