Is Rafizi testing the waters for a comeback?

 

By JOCELINE TAN

RAFIZI Ramli today (pic) is almost unrecognisable from what he looked like two years ago.

The chubby look has melted away, replaced by a lean and fit image. He also seems to relish being a father and there are lots of pictures of his son on his social media accounts.

The former Pandan MP stepped back from politics more than a year ago to focus on his Invoke Malaysia research outfit. The break from politics has somehow softened public opinion about his disastrous Kajang Move and he is once again being spoken of as “prime minister material”.

The perception, rightly or wrongly, is that Rafizi could be preparing to make a comeback given what happened in PKR last week.

It had to do with the party’s Youth chief Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir sacking a string of the wing’s leaders, a move which has stunned and angered many in PKR.

Party president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is said to be furious because the sackings were clearly in defiance of what was decided by the party supreme council.

The supreme council which met last Sunday (June 27) had decided that all office-bearers would be maintained until the next party election which had been postponed to 2023.

The next day, Akmal sacked five Youth leaders from their positions. They included his national vice-chairman Syed Badli Shah Syed Osman, Selangor Youth chief Najwan Halimi and Perlis Youth chief Nor Azam Karap.

The sackings were apparently done without consulting the president. Akmal is with Camp Rafizi and it was evident that he was acting at the behest of Rafizi.

But why such drastic action from out of the blue?

The sense is that the sackings were in reaction to what transpired at Sunday’s supreme council meeting.

A well-placed party source said the meeting had, among other things, discussed Rafizi’s Twitter postings making disparaging remarks about the circle around the president.

The target was evidently Anwar’s political secretary Farhash Wafa Salvador.

Farhash, who is also the Perak PKR chairman, leads a grassroots group within the party dubbed the “black shirts”. He is fiercely loyal to Anwar, often telling people that his goal is “to see my boss become PM”.

Anwar defended Farhash during the meeting, saying that attacks against his political secretary were also attacks against him.

Akmal defended Rafizi especially when some supreme council members called for action against Rafizi.

But Akmal may have miscalculated the sentiments in the party because 13 out of 22 division Youth chiefs in Selangor have refused to accept Najwan’s sacking. They have also rejected the new state chief, Rawang assemblyman Chua Wei Kiat.

On the national level, more than 100 out of 135 division Youth chiefs are reportedly in favour of an EGM to push Akmal out.

They did not buy Akmal’s argument that the sackings were to reshuffle and strengthen the party in preparation for the general election.

They said that such sackings are justified only in the event of wrongdoing.

“Datuk Seri Anwar has asked me to stay calm, not to over-react, ” said Najwan.

Najwan’s sacking has, in one of those twists of fate, catapulted him to the political centrestage.

The Kota Anggerik assemblyman has been inundated by messages of support and encouragement and has become a rallying point for those who disagree with the sackings.

“It is so untimely. People are sick and tired of politics and this happens. I admit it is within the Youth chairman’s powers to sack those holding appointed posts but it is not a good excuse to sack so many people, ” said vice-president Tian Chua.

A supreme council member said party leaders are concerned that the sackings will distract from the coming Parliament meeting.

“It’s not the right time to create disharmony, ” said the supreme council member.

Many are also trying to understand the logic behind the sacking. A convenient assumption is that it is a pre-emptive strike to enable Rafizi to make a comeback.

Another argument is that he is testing the extent of his support in the party.

The thing to take into account here is that Permatang Pauh MP Nurul Izzah Anwar is with Rafizi and that is an awesome pairing.

People outside the party regard Rafizi and Nurul Izzah as the next generation of leaders to run the party and even the country.

Rafizi’s career has been one of highs and lows. The highest was when he blew the whistle on the National Feedlot Corporation or "cow-and-condo" scandal.

The lowest point came when he was barred from contesting the 2018 general election and then lost to Datuk Seri Azmin Ali in the contest for the deputy president post.

Anwar’s priority then was to hold the party together by giving those who lost a role in the party. But Rafizi declined Anwar’s offer to be appointed vice-president after the defeat.

There was speculation that he would only accept the appointment if the party was cleansed of people associated with the “cartel” as the Azmin group is known, as well as cut off all ties with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

However, some believe that what happened this week also had to do with the bad blood between Rafizi and Farhash who seems to have replaced Azmin as Enemy No 1 in the eyes of Camp Rafizi.

Rafizi was an influential figure when Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail was president. He was known as the “chief whisperer” because he could whisper into the president’s ear.

But all that changed after Anwar was released from prison and took over the presidency.

The circle around the president changed and Farhash joined the inner circle. Farhash does not try to outshine his president and his “black shirts” act as a shield to Anwar.

Sometimes when people cannot touch their boss, they go for those close to him. The people who were axed were seen to have grown too close to Farhash.

For instance, Syed Badli was Rafizi’s former campaign manager but had shifted allegiance to Farhash. Nor Azam of Perlis was in Camp Rafizi but has openly aligned himself with Farhash.

Leaders from the Youth wing at the state level have come out to criticise the sackings but none have openly supported it.

The Youth wings in Selangor and Negri Sembilan have declared that they have lost confidence in Akmal’s leadership while those in Melaka and Johor are believed to be preparing to do the same.

It will be bad optics for Akmal if his own home state of Johor turns against him.

Akmal has poked the hornet’s nest. He has sparked off a crisis which has not only hurt the party but may backfire on him. - Star