Rafizi: PKR's politics no longer as bold due to constraints of government

 

PKR’s political activities can no longer be as “ranggi” (bold) as when the party was in the opposition, said its deputy president Rafizi Ramli.

According to him, that is because most of the characters who have mobilised the party’s past efforts have joined the government and are bound by various constraints.

“Most of our (PKR) leaders are the leaders of the government (currently). Therefore, when speaking as a government, we are bound by policy and secrecy and administrative rules,” he said at a special PKR convention in conjunction with the party’s 25th anniversary celebration in Shah Alam, today.

At the same time Rafizi, who is the economy minister, explained that PKR cannot be seen as too aggressive because they need to balance their duties as a government.

He said that despite the challenges the party is facing, the majority of members remained motivated to carry out the reform efforts that became the basis of the PKR’s foundation and struggle.

“This party is bigger than a mere political party because this has been our family for the past 25 years.

“The biggest motivation for us to maintain loyalty to the party is because this party is our friends and family who have been up and down together in the party’s struggle,” he added.

Past strategies ‘copied’ by ex-members

The Pandan MP also recounted that at one time, PKR members and activists were known as individuals who were skilled at organising demonstrations that helped the party survive for a quarter of a century.

He said the party was also among the pioneers of political dialogue and debate through alternative media or social media such as Facebook.

However, he claimed that these skills are now being plagiarised by the opposition and used to challenge the federal coalition government.

“That strength we built from the beginning has now been used by the opposition to fight us.

“Now, we see that skill being plagiarised by people who used to be in PKR. They used it to shoot us.

“PKR was one of the earliest parties - as far as I can remember - the first to use Facebook as a platform as early as 2010,” he said.

In the same speech, Rafizi also joked about how party chief Anwar Ibrahim used to urge him to get married.

“The person who nags me the most to get married is Anwar, if he didn’t nag (maybe) I would have gotten married later,” he said.

Earlier, Rafizi inaugurated two PKR work plans in preparation for the party’s 16th general election and the empowerment of the party’s organisation. - Mkini