Fahmi Zainol was more deserving to be the PKR Youth chief because he has worked his way up the party ladder, said incumbent PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli.
According to Rafizi, Fahmi had proven leadership qualities as the latter was once elected as the Universiti Malaya Students’ Council president before working his way into becoming the Penang PKR Youth chief.
“Do you think it’s easy to win (the election to become) the UM student council president? It is not. He was PKR Youth exco member before becoming the Penang PKR Youth head.
“Over the past six to seven years, not only is he an activist, he balanced that with the needs of the party,” said Rafizi during a dialogue with his supporters in Ipoh, Perak on Sunday.
In contrast, Rafizi said Adam Adli Abdul Halim - Fahmi’s opponent for the PKR Youth chief position - was a PKR greenhorn, albeit one who is talented in other areas.
“Adam is someone who has a bright future but I want to see him learn to organise matters in the party first before we give him the responsibility of being the PKR Youth leader,” said Rafizi.
“I have been through this before. I’ve seen ‘heroes’ and ‘personalities’ who parachuted in from above. They never last long. They leave the party or cause problems with the grassroots.”
Fahmi joined PKR in 2015 after graduating from Universiti Malaya. Adam joined PKR last September and was exempted from a party rule which barred members with a tenure of less than 12 months from seeking election for a party position after seeking a waiver from PKR president Anwar Ibrahim.
Such exemptions are not uncommon in previous PKR elections.
The PKR national leadership election will take place between May 13 and May 20. Only the top six positions for the central leadership committee, the youth wing and women’s wing will be open for election. The party practices a one-person-one-vote system.
‘We persuaded Saifuddin Nasution to stay in M’sia’
Meanwhile, Rafizi claimed that he and a few others played a role in dissuading rival Saifuddin Nasution Ismail from leaving the country in 2016.
Both Rafizi and Saifuddin Nasution are vying for the PKR deputy president's position.
“We had to pujuk (persuade) him to stay. His choice was to leave the country and move to Indonesia. Hence, a group of us, all friends, had to persuade him (to stay).
“Apart from providing him with a political position, he also had to think of how he was to make a living,” said Rafizi.
Rafizi revealed this when taking a question from an audience who wanted to know more about allegations that the former played a role in securing a job for Saifuddin as the Penang chief minister’s “strategic adviser” in January 2017.
Two months prior, Saifuddin Nasution replaced Rafizi as PKR secretary-general. He had failed to be elected as a lawmaker during the 2013 election.
Rafizi explained that he had helped make employment arrangements for Saifuddin Nasution because he knew the latter was close to the DAP leadership.
He also said many party leaders are not good at official writing and hence it was often delegated to him.
“In fact, I have written press statements for Azmin Ali and Zuraida Kamaruddin before... Many of our leaders can’t do it themselves.
“A long time ago, in small towns, there are typists sitting outside restaurants. They are paid RM10 to write a letter. That (used to be) my job. I was the party typist,” said Rafizi, in jest.
Rafizi did not dwell long on Saifuddin Nasution and stressed that he had to clear the air because his rival’s supporters have raised the issue. - Mkini
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