PKR Youth chief Akmal Nasir ticked off for being 'childish'

The PKR Youth wing has been told to stop intensifying the conflict between president Anwar Ibrahim and his deputy, Azmin Ali, by defying party procedures, which provide for Azmin to officiate the Youth and Wanita sessions of the party’s annual congress in Malacca next month.

Former PKR national Youth deputy chief Dr Afif Bahardin (photo, above) said the Youth wing should instead act as a "middle person" to promote unity in the leadership, which is currently seiged by intense factional fights.

Afif said the Youth wing is instigating a fight between Anwar and Azmin with its latest decision to invite party advisor Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail to officiate the annual congress of PKR Youth and Women’s wings.

"Don't be an instigator, but be a middle person to promote unity in the party," Afif said after meeting a group of state Youth leaders at the Penang PKR headquarters in Seberang Jaya last night.

Afif said the PKR Youth leadership helmed by Akmal Nasir (below) cannot justify its decision by blaming Azmin for not attending the party's supreme council meetings.

"There is a bigger issue, it cannot be as simplistic as not attending meetings," said the Penang state executive councillor.

"When I was the national Youth deputy chief from 2014 to 2018, we did not have meetings for more than a year. We did not even have a single meeting to coordinate the GE14.

"But we still allowed then Youth chief Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad to officiate our congress, because the party's image and unity are more important.

"Where were your principles at that time? It is beyond what is allowed in our wing's regulations but we tried our best to invest our time to resolve the problems, and tried to overcome whatever challenges we had.

"We even prepared the blue and red T-shirts, which became an iconic symbol on May 9 last year, even though there were no meetings for us to attend at the time," added the Seberang Jaya assemblyperson.

Adding oil to fire

On Nov 21, PKR Youth deputy chief Hilman Idham said he had garnered the backing of 132 out of 196 divisional Youth chiefs for the congress to be officiated by Wan Azizah on Dec 5.

But Afif said the Youth wing should provide an avenue for the president and his deputy to reconcile, instead of "adding oil to fire".

"To me, what Akmal is doing is very childish. But too bad, he is the Youth chief. If it was me, this would not happen," Afif said, noting that he had lost to the current leader by 42 votes at the party's internal poll last year.

Describing the situation as "sad", Afif said he was only expressing his thoughts as a party member as he no longer held any post in the Youth wing or the supreme council.

"I am also sharing the thoughts and feelings of my friends and comrades, who mostly want the top leadership to intervene and resolve this matter as soon as possible, so that we can go back to practising the convention of allowing the deputy president to officiate our Youth and Women’s congress."

Asked why was a meeting convened at 9pm to 10.30pm last night when the Penang Youth chief, Fahmi Zainol, did not endorse it, Afif replied, "That was not an official meeting. It was merely an informal gathering of friends."

"They have missed me while I was away in the United States for six weeks. During the time, I received many messages," he said.

"So we met today to discuss these matters, I wanted to hear from the grassroots leaders, who shared their views and sentiments. The majority of them wants the party's unity to be prioritised," Afif said.

"They also want the party's convention to be practised, where the deputy president officiates and gives the speech during our (Youth and Wanita) congress.

"We are prepared to mobilise members to attend the congress to hear the speech given by the deputy president," he stressed.

'Is Afif lying to himself?'

In an immediate response, Fahmi refuted Afif's claims that a majority of the state PKR leaders, including 12 branch leaders, had attended the gathering.

"How can Afif say that the majority of branch leaders support Azmin to officiate the congress? Is Afif lying to himself?" Fahmi asked.

He said the branch chiefs of Permatang Pauh, Balik Pulau, Tasek Gelugor, Bayan Baru, Batu Kawan, Nibong Tebal and Bukit Gelugor did not attend Afif's event.

According to Fahmi, those who attended were the branch chiefs from Bukit Mertajam, Tanjong, Jelutong, Bagan and Kepala Batas. - Mkini