Familiarity and grassroots support does matter, says Tian Chua

 

Former PKR vice-president Tian Chua, in response to Anwar Ibrahim, said former MPs who were dropped had solid grassroots support.

PETALING JAYA: Former PKR vice-president Tian Chua has clarified that he was not complaining about the party giving young people opportunities to serve but merely questioned the wisdom of dropping those deeply rooted in their constituencies.

“Those dropped were on the ground for a long time and had solid grassroots support. That was my point. I wasn’t complaining about giving young people opportunities.

“I think some are questioning the wisdom in dropping those who are deeply rooted in their constituencies. This is what grassroots are asking,” he told FMT.

He was commenting on PKR president Anwar Ibrahim’s comment earlier that the move to drop several former MPs for the 15th general election (GE15) is necessary to give new faces in the party the chance to shine.

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Anwar said this in response to Tian Chua’s warning yesterday that the party’s move to drop several former MPs ahead of GE15 could hurt the party.

Tian Chua had said that there were many who were disappointed with the decision, stating that “shuffling MPs and seats like cards” would hurt the party’s grassroots and frustrate the voters who supported PKR and their elected representatives.

Tian Chua said since the party did not have much time to prepare for the election, familiarity is important for victory.

“What I said had nothing to do with not giving youths a chance. Neither has it got anything to do with being pro-Azmin Ali. To say those who were dropped were pro-Azmin is a simplistic assumption.

“I was talking about reshuffling. Whoever gets shuffled in will have a lot to do to retain the grassroots support,” he said. - FMT