PKR congress may face poser on role of non-Malay members

 

PKR members attending a special congress in March, ahead of the state elections that were called in August.

PETALING JAYA: An assemblyman from PKR says he hopes the party congress next weekend will discuss the role of non-Malay members and leaders, who seem to have been sidelined by the party in the past year.

The assemblyman, who asked to remain anonymous, said there has been dissatisfaction among Chinese and Indian members recently.

He said PKR did not nominate any Chinese or Indian members for posts on the executive councils of Penang, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan, where Pakatan Harapan (PH) forms the state government.

“This defeats the whole purpose of the party being called a multiracial party,” the assemblyman told FMT. He said the party is now headed in a direction that only focuses on Malay members and Malay issues.

“When you talk about PAS and Bersatu teaming up, our party is also moving towards that direction of focusing just on Malays to get Malay support. They are doing it to counter the opposition’s narrative but what is going to happen to the Chinese and Indian members and voters?” he said.

However, he does not expect this issue to be brought up at the congress, mainly because there is not much that can be done.

“Arguing it at the congress will not solve anything. But the leadership must understand that PKR is a multiracial party,” he said.

Another PKR assemblyman said the congress should discuss why positions on local councils and the posts of village heads had been “surrendered” to Umno.

“It was never addressed why some of those positions must be surrendered to Umno. For instance, in Selangor, Umno only has two seats, so why give them the local councillors and village heads quota in other areas?” he said.

He said this was unfair because the respective assemblymen in these areas would like to choose their own representatives for the posts.

Earlier this month, FMT quoted sources as saying that Selangor is set to carry out a major reshuffle of local councillors and village heads following the state election which saw the PH-Barisan Nasional alliance denied a two-thirds majority.

There is a possibility that some of these posts will be given to Umno, which is now part of the state government. - FMT