PETALING JAYA: An analyst foresees a split in PKR as a result of the battle for the deputy president’s post between secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail and vice-president Rafizi Ramli.
James Chin of the University of Tasmania’s Asia Institute said this would be reminiscent of PKR’s last party polls in 2018, when the party was split between Rafizi and former deputy president Azmin Ali.
PKR will have its next polls from May 13 to 18. Candidates will be nominated on Saturday.
Chin said PKR leaders and ordinary members looking for reforms would probably back Rafizi, but others would dread the adjustments he might bring to the party if elected.
“When Rafizi took a hiatus from the party, a lot of people were happy. Now he is back and many members are afraid that if he becomes deputy president, he will bring sweeping changes and this will affect their positions,” he told FMT.
He said either Rafizi or Saifuddin needed to win with a big majority because PKR would be in no position to face the coming general election if there was a 50-50 split in the party.
“Any split in the party heading into the general election will be a disaster,” he said.
The PKR deputy president’s post has been vacant since Azmin was sacked from the party because he took part in the Sheraton Move, which brought down the Pakatan Harapan government in February 2020.
Asked if he thought there were still Azmin supporters in PKR, Chin said he believed most of them left when the Gombak MP resigned from the party.
“When he moved to Bersatu, he was able to offer much patronage and thus a lot of members followed him. They were also given government positions. So I don’t think there is much of his legacy left in PKR.”
Chin also said he believed PKR president Anwar Ibrahim would easily retain his post as there was nobody of his stature in the party. So far, no one has thrown his or her hat into the ring for the top party post.
Awang Azman Pawi of Universiti Malaya said he did not think any split in PKR would last beyond the party polls.
“However, if any conflict continues, it will show the lack of political maturity in PKR,” he said.
Commenting on the showdown between youth activist Adam Adli and former student activist Fahmi Zainol for the PKR Youth chief’s post, Awang Azman said it would be an interesting contest to watch.
He expected both to offer new ideas and strategies to attract new voters.
“They must prove that they can compete in a mature manner and not repeat the old, conventional and defensive tactics.”- FMT
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