Fratricidal warfare threatens our multiracial vision

ADUN SPEAKS | The recent sex video scandal has well brought out the simmering factional disputes in the PKR into the open.

The dispute between PKR president Anwar Ibrahim and his deputy Mohamed Azmin Ali involving their respective supporters within the party threatens the multiracial vision of Malaysia.

Factional disputes are not unusual to political parties, especially if the political and administrative stakes are high.

However, contests for posts should not derail or complicate the vision of a better and progressive Malaysia.

Worse still, if there is a growing perception that one leader is being considered the favourite of those wielding political power.

The question is not about those who were the brains behind the sex video or the identity of those in the video, but about the succession issue and whether Anwar will succeed Dr Mahathir Mohamad as the prime minister.

In the larger sense, it is whether PKR, a multiracial party, can emerge as the leading political party in the country to wean politics away from race and religion, which is a common preoccupation of the mainstream political parties.

Whether the succession matter was handled well or not is merely academic, for much water has flowed under the bridge.

Perhaps Pakatan Harapan, as a whole, needs to shoulder the blame for failing to introduce certain specifics or details regarding the succession plan.

Undoubtedly, it is the vagueness of the power transition scheme that could be, to some extent, responsible for the present state of affairs.

But then, predicting schisms in political parties and the circumstances which give rise to these cannot merely be reduced to the lack of details in the succession scheme.

For Malaysians who want the non-return of BN or Umno, the latest video scandal has been thrown under the vision of a multiracial Malaysia.

I see PKR or its leadership, for all its faults, as the best political option for Malaysia.

When one ponders on the question of the future of the country, especially one that is not preoccupied with extremes of race or religion, I can only think of PKR, or to some extent DAP, both within the fold of the Harapan coalition.

However, internecine warfare within Harapan, and within PKR, threatens to derail and bury all that has been fought for.

The arrival of Harapan on the political scene gave much hope and dignity to Malaysians of all walks of life - but only to be snatched away at the point when we about to embark on the promises made to the rakyat.

Where have we gone wrong?

In the tooth and nail clamour for posts, we have forgotten the promises made to the rakyat! How will the emergence of new politics deliver them from the clutches of corruption bred by extreme forces of various kinds?

When Malaysians are ready to go beyond extremisms, their vision has been derailed by another phenomenon, the appearance of the sex video and its apparent relationship to the succession issue.

Responsible leaders must come to their senses. Fratricidal or internecine warfare must be halted within PKR, for the sake of the future of the country.

In a sense, succession has actually been settled, even before the last general election.

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P RAMASAMY is the state assemblyperson for Perai. He is also deputy chief minister II of Penang. - Mkini