Xavier: Reconciliation always on our minds

PKR CONGRESS | PKR vice-president Xavier Jayakumar (above) said that two factions within the party are looking forward to reconciliation.

"Of course, there's a possibility for reconciliation. It's always on our minds," Xavier told the media after the congress closed its curtain today.

The two clashing factions are aligned with the party president Anwar Ibrahim and his deputy Mohamed Azmin Ali.

For the record, Xavier is one of the senior party leaders who are aligned to Anwar.

Touching on the number of participants at the event, Xavier said: "A majority of the party council representatives were present. Only several representatives were absent, some with their own reasons (for not showing up). For others, we will look into it."

On Saturday, a group aligned to Anwar did a walk out during the congress to protest against the criticism made by several delegates against Azmin.

Subsequently, Azmin and his group held a press conference at Ayer Keroh to explain the situation.

Azmin claimed that Anwar paved the way for delegates to "open fire" on them by speaking of traitors in his policy speech.

Commenting on the congress, Xavier said that the leadership will sit together and do a post-mortem.

"We will sit down together to do a post-mortem and decide on what we are going to do next. There will be a lot of negotiations before any decision is made," he said.

Meanwhile, PKR stalwart Syed Husin Ali (above) described the congress as smooth running and well received, judging at the number of participants.

He estimated that 85 percent of the representatives were still inside the hall when Azmin's group did a walk out.

When met by the media, Syed Husin commented that Anwar had discussions with party members before making certain decisions.

This morning, Anwar, in his speech, touched on certain controversial matters surrounding the party, such as the selection of speakers for the congress, and the party's decision to sack members purportedly involved in corruption.

"We have a political bureau and the party leadership council. We have meetings. So he (Anwar) cannot make a decision on his own.

"If he does that, that means he is a dictator," Syed Hussin said. - Mkini