Yesterday, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s aide said that discussions are underway to ensure no contest for the PKR presidency and deputy presidency.
According to a report by Bernama, Anwar’s political secretary, Shamsul Iskandar Md Akin said it was based on internal discussions and feedback from previous consultations within the party.
“The goal is to maintain internal party stability and improve service to the public, especially with the next general election approaching in about two years.
“There is no official party decision preventing a contest, but among the leadership, we hold discussions as we prioritise more important agendas,” he was reported as saying.
Here is my question to PKR and its leadership, why are you people trying to imitate Umno?
Dr M’s Umno legacy
Growing up in the 1990s, I remember Umno, under the leadership of Dr Mahathir Mohamad, used to do the same thing to prevent any form of contest for its top two posts.
From my understanding, Mahathir and his supporters did this following the rocky Umno polls in 1987, which saw the party being split between Team A (led by Mahathir and the late Abdul Ghafar Baba) and Team B (led by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and Musa Hitam).
To cut a long story short, the incident created a massive split in Umno - leading to the departure of Razaleigh and his supporters to form the now-defunct Semangat 46.
Since then, Umno has always tried to prevent any contest for its top two positions to retain so-called party unity.
What’s brewing?
But why should a reformist party like PKR do this? Is there something brewing inside PKR?
Already, the party has done away with its forward-thinking “one man, one vote” electoral system last year for electing the top six positions, namely the president, deputy president, and four vice-presidents, and replaced it with the old-fashioned delegates system.
The only reason why PKR would do such a thing, in my opinion, is to prevent Anwar from getting humiliated in the event he gets challenged for the PKR presidency.
Everyone knows how deeply unpopular he is among the electorate now. Judging from what Shamsul said, the dissatisfaction may have seeped into the party too.
If that’s true, I don’t blame PKR grassroots. Many who joined the party believed in its founding principles to champion reforms and the progressive agenda, which had been conveniently abandoned by Anwar and Pakatan Harapan upon assuming power.
Granted, I do not believe Anwar, the founder of PKR, could get easily voted out by the party delegates out of nostalgia and sentiment.
However, if someone does challenge him and even if he or she loses, it can seriously dent Anwar’s image.
Imagine a scenario where Anwar just narrowly beats his contender. That will really damage his image and credentials.
Mind you, we are not even talking about the worst-case scenario of him getting defeated. Imagine a prime minister without holding the party president’s post… now, that will be interesting.
Anwar needs reminder
In any case, I wish PKR good luck. While it can do what it wishes to protect Anwar’s reign, there is no way he can avoid facing the electorate in the 16th general election.
However, if there are still reformists within PKR ranks, they should allow for the top posts to be contested.
Yes, Anwar may get challenged and lose face in the process, but in my view, it’s better for the Tambun MP to get a reality check from his own party on his incompetence in running the administration instead of the rakyat.
Who knows, it may be the wake-up call Anwar needs to get him to pull up his socks and get his reform agenda running.
Or maybe I’m just being too optimistic. - Mkini
G VINOD is a member of the Malaysiakini team.
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