As PKR members gather for the party’s annual congress, which kicks off today, a party veteran has warned of consistent attacks by "political elites in power" to prevent PKR president Anwar Ibrahim's rise as prime minister.
Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Abdul Karim, in a statement, defended Anwar against growing calls for the opposition leader to step aside ahead of the next 15th general election, speculated to be called by as early as year-end.
"Failure to be prime minister does not mean Anwar is a liability to PKR's fight to form a government.
"On the contrary, Anwar is an asset to the ‘reformasi’ struggle, something that goes beyond becoming prime minister and forming a government," said Hassan.
Hassan argued that Malaysia's elites dominating the economy and political scene since independence will never allow a man like Anwar - advocating policies that favour the ordinary people - to rise to power.
Hassan also insisted that Anwar was targeted for speaking out against major corruption scandals and demanding good governance.
"Just imagine, are there any political elites who will allow Anwar to succeed with his reform agenda?
"The answer is clearly no. These political elites are the ones behind the scenes doing all kinds of tricks and intrigues so the seventh prime minister did not fulfil the agreement for him to step down after two years during the Pakatan Harapan administration," said Hassan, alluding to former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad's second stint in power.
"Mahathir's broken promise is not a coincidence. It is a 'grand design' to prevent Anwar from succeeding Mahathir as prime minister," he claimed.
On Sept 23, 2020, seven months after Perikatan Nasional took over Putrajaya via a political coup, Anwar claimed he had obtained a "strong and formidable" majority but declined to reveal the number of MPs on his side.
In January last year, the Harapan chairperson again claimed that between 114 to 115 MPs were against the state of emergency imposed by PN chairperson Muhyiddin Yassin as then prime minister.
'Not a radical, leftist or socialist'
Hassan also said Anwar, who was neither a leftist nor socialist, did not fit in the mould of historical leaders whose struggles since the 1970s were branded as radical and many ended up jailed or maligned.
"Anwar's image relatable to the common people greatly worries the political elites, among them including multi-millionaires, billionaires, former finance ministers, corporate giants and others.
"It is from their mouths directly or through their agents (consciously or otherwise) that recently, with a looming general election, came propaganda such as 'Anwar should step down', 'Anwar is irrelevant', 'Anwar is a liability to his own party'.
"Therefore, to all PKR members gathered at the congress, do not fall prey to propaganda and evil campaign of political elites out to weaken Anwar," he said, adding that the Port Dickson MP will continue to lead Harapan's GE15 quest for a new mandate.
Anwar has retained his PKR president's post uncontested in the recently concluded party polls, leading a new line-up starting from Rafizi Ramli as PKR's deputy president.
The PKR congress is being held at the Shah Alam Convention Centre from today until Sunday. - Mkini
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