Azmin schools ‘little children’ on his loyalty

PKR deputy president Azmin Ali has highlighted his long track record in his party amid questions about his loyalty to its president-elect Anwar Ibrahim.

He said he had stuck with Anwar even as Anwar had been moved through different ministries and ultimately sacked as deputy prime minister in 1998, and then went in and out of jail.

Without naming names, Azmin said he had also stuck with the party’s struggles even during its low-water mark following the 2004 general election, while his critics were living comfortably in places like London, Jakarta, and Australia.

Those critics, he said, were also not present in the 1998 Reformasi movement that led to the formation of the party.

Azmin added that he was himself arrested while fighting for the party, such as when he sought to detain suspected phantom voters in the 1999 Lunas by-election but was instead detained by the police for several days. 

“These are little children of two, three years’ old questioning my loyalty to the struggle […]

“These people are now want to talk about Reformasi. They’ve lived a luxurious life, and now that things have calmed down, they come back (to talk about Reformasi).

“Then suddenly don’t know from which estate or bush, (someone said) Azmin has to prove his loyalty to the party,” he said in a speech officiating the Selangor PKR divisional annual general meetings today.

The event in Petaling Jaya drew some 500 PKR members, who cheered for Azmin as he spoke.

Azmin stressed that the members’ loyalty should be to the party’s struggles and ideals, rather than to take the form of patronage.

His speech came as several PKR leaders had questioned his loyalty in the run-up to the party election.

Azmin, who is also the Gombak MP, will defend his post against party vice-president and former Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli.

Those who had accused Azmin of disloyalty - either to the party or to Anwar - included PKR Youth chief candidate Akmal Nasir, PKR Youth secretary Razeef Rakimin, Sungai Siput MP S Kesavan, and Kapar MP Abdullah Sani Abdul Hamid.

In particular, Sani had challenged Azmin and Ampang MP Zuraida Kamaruddin to resign their positions as MP to trigger a by-election that would allow Anwar to return to Parliament, according to a report by the Malay Mail today.

This, he claimed, would put questions about the duo’s loyalty to rest.

When asked to comment on Sani’s statement after his speech, Azmin pointed out that the question implies that those who refuse to surrender their seats are disloyal.

“In that context, according to my understanding, it is as though those who don’t surrender (their seats) are disloyal. Then what about (Permatang Pauh MP) Nurul Izzah Anwar’s statement?” he said.

Nurul Izzah, who is Anwar’s daughter, had said early last month that she will not vacateher seat for her father.  - Mkini