Slightly more than a year after an exodus from PKR due to factionalism contributed to the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan government, the party is now seeing another round of internal tussle.
At least two state PKR Youth leaderships were dissolved and a number of leaders at the wing's central level were sacked, according to letters sighted by Malaysiakini today.
The official reason provided was that it was in preparation for the 15th general election but PKR Youth vice-chief Syed Badli Shah Syed Osman speculated that it was due to factionalism between those aligned to PKR president Anwar Ibrahim and former vice-president Rafizi Ramli.
Syed Badli was among those who were sacked today.
"After (former PKR deputy president) Azmin Ali's line-up quit the party, the ones that are left are the Rafizi and Anwar's line-up.
"Perhaps they feel those who were sacked are strong defenders of the president's team and saw them as a threat to Rafizi's team," he told Malaysiakini today.
Rafizi is no longer active in PKR politics but his protege Akmal Nasir is the PKR Youth chief who can decide on the state youth leaderships.
Rafizi had previously warned Anwar about the people he had been surrounding himself with, using the label "Black Shirts Gang".
Among those who had risen to prominence after Anwar was released from prison is his political secretary Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak, who has a penchant for black shirts. He was also appointed as the Perak PKR chief.
"I had openly advised Anwar not to allow the seeds of the cartel to sprout again through the black shirts gang," Rafizi had said in a Twitter post on June 17.
The topic came up after people purportedly aligned with Farhash made an unflattering post against Rafizi. The post was deleted after Rafizi threatened legal action.
"You should really reign in your office. This is what the people in your office cultivate - another rotten culture in PKR to become #kartel2.
"And they are using your name to justify everything. One day when they don’t get what they want they will betray you, again," Rafizi had said in another tweet on June 18.
"Cartel" is the nickname used by opponents to refer to Azmin's faction while he was in PKR.
Syed Badli said there were at least six individuals, including himself, who were removed from PKR Youth leadership positions.
The Selangor and Perlis Youth leaderships were also dissolved, with Selangor Youth chief Najwan Halimi and Perlis Youth chief Azam Karap receiving separate letters this morning about the dissolution.
The letters, signed off by PKR Youth secretary Ahmad Syukri Che Ab Razab, gave the same reasons for the dissolutions and sacking - to prepare for the 15th general election.
"Therefore, there is a need for PKR Youth to conduct a strategic reshuffle to ensure more focused, uniformed and orderly efforts," said the letters.
Syukri added in the letter that Akmal will conduct consultations to appoint the new leaderships in Selangor and Perlis.
The sacked leaders were also given the same reason.
Another leader who was sacked was PKR Youth assistant secretary Naqib Nasaruddin, who said he was shocked when he received the letter because he felt like he had been sacked for no reason.
“Maybe it has something to do with some political issue related to a change in government but I don’t know why they chose this time to make such a move,” he said to Malaysiakini.
Meanwhile, Najwan said while he was surprised by the dissolution of the Selangor youth leadership, he accepts the decision as it is the prerogative of the PKR Youth chief.
“I am a party man and I accept the decision. I am going to continue to serve my constituents and my party, in order to strengthen my party, especially in Selangor,” he said.
When contacted by Malaysiakini, Azam confirmed he had received the letter informing him of the dissolution of Perlis youth leadership, but declined to comment further.
In a Facebook post later, Syed Badli said there are efforts to “sabotage” Anwar as the party president but added that he would not falter in defending the president from both external threats and internal sabotage.
“Just as we fight the traitors, today we fight those who want to sabotage the party. You want to dance, let’s tango, brother,” he said.
When asked about speculation of another internal tussle, Farhash told Malaysiakini that there is no in-fighting within the party and added that he does not have any interactions with Rafizi.
He also said he was not privy earlier to the dissolution and sacking happening within PKR Youth and that he would have to look into the matter before he commented on it.
Malaysiakini has also attempted unsuccessfully to contact Akmal and Rafizi to comment on these matters. - Mkini
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.