PKR - troubles galore

Aiyoyo, all is not well in PKR.

It seems to be the party on both sides of the political fence which is MOST afflicted with internal as well as external problems. Some have been self-imposed.

Internally, Azmin Ali appears to be at odds with Rafizi Ramli, to the extent the fallout of their animosity has adversely affected poor Wong Chen, PKR MP for Kelana Jaya. Poor Wong has been seen in PKR as an ally of Rafizi so he vicariously gets the nasties meant for Rafizi.

For how Wong Chen was internally 'sabo' in his constituency, read FMT's Wong Chen apologises for suspending welfare programme in which he ... apologised to those who had applied for aid under his constituency’s welfare programme, which has been suspended until further notice.

In a short letter, Wong Chen said action taken by the Selangor government [guess who?] had left them with no funds to run the programme. [...]

The first-time MP was in the news last month when he revealed some concern over what he saw as a lack of transparent, fair and proper handling of an audit on the spending of the annual RM250,000 budget allocation to his office.

Saying the audit findings had alleged that his office had failed to follow guidelines, Wong Chen decided to make a public disclosure of the audit findings and the lack of answers from the Selangor state treasury despite repeated queries from him and his staff.

We subsequently discovered that state audit leading to the suspension of welfare program for the Kelana Jaya constituency has been a consequence of the internecine war between two leng chais, namely, MB Azmin Ali and his potential party rival Rafizi Ramli.

2 tigers cannot be on one PKR mountain 

The other side of the internecine coin saw Wangsa Maju's MP Dr Tan Kee Kwong (son of the redoubtable late Dr Tan Chee Khoon) complaining about Rafizi's faction intruding into and interfering with his work in his constituency.

For more, read The Star Online's

PKR's Wangsa Maju MP says Rafizi is 'dividing' party which reported:

PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli has come under fire for creating "a party within a party" with his NGO known as Invoke, said the party's Wangsa Maju MP Datuk Dr Tan Kee Kwong.

Dr Tan also accused the Pandan MP of dividing the party and of self-aggrandisement and questioned Rafizi's loyalty to the leadership of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and party president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

Dr Tan took offence after the Invoke team allegedly organised events in the Wangsa Maju constituency "without the courtesy of informing me as KC (ketua cabang or division chief) and MP of Wangsa Maju".

He also appeared upset over the choice of PKR treasurer and former Wanita MCA leader Datuk Paduka Tan Yee Kew as the moderator for a planned Invoke event in the constituency.

Dr Tan had alleged that Yee Kew had "a record of being disruptive of our efforts to build up PKR and PH (Pakatan Harapan) to face GE14".

fortunately he went from Gerakan to PKR and is a hero
if he had gone the other way he would have become a running dog

wakakaka

Anway, PKR MPs for Kelana Jaya have not been well-liked by Azmin Ali, with that constituency's first PKR MP, Loh Gwo Burne (Anwar's personally selected candidate, wakakaka) being the first to be at war with Azmin.

Loh was pissed off with Azmin for the latter's alleged ill-treatment of Zaid Ibrahim who subsequently left PKR because he couldn't tahan anymore the alleged Azmin's blockade of his (Zaid's) rising star in PKR.

Much as Loh was Anwar's personally selected candidate for the Kelana Jaya constituency, he was politically foolish to imagine he could best Azmin Ali in any intra party tiff - Zaid Ibrahim couldn't and neither could Chegubard, Nallakaruppan and a host of others.

No one in PKR messes around with the deadly Azmin Ali, who was/is even feared by Wan Azizah and Nurul.

Loh made the mistake of writing a personal letter to PKR party president Dr Wan Azizah to complain about what he believed to be dodgy party polling process involving Azmin and Zaid for the Deputy President position. But as usual, the fan lady buat diam diam saja as she had when queried also by Brother Haris Ibrahim, Jonson Chong and several others (PKR members and non-members).

I have a special post for him titled Bahasa Mělayu - a letter to Yang Běrhormat

wakakaka.

That was really brave of Loh but bad for his PKR career, to criticise Azmin, the most scared cow in PKR and at that time, Anwar Ibrahim's blue-eyed boy - see my post The Poison Within PKR.

Then Loh burned his final bridges when he wrote a very public letter to Malaysiakini to lambaste Azmin Ali.

Loh was a supporter of Zaid Ibrahim and probably must have been so nauseated by the injustice done to Zaid in PKR where he saw nothing (including his complaint to Dr Wan) would be dealt with, for him to write such a public letter in angry frustration to condemn the party's deputy president.

From that moment, Loh sealed his fate as a member of PKR.

I invite you to read my post of 19 November 2010 titled Loh Gwo Burne & Gobala - one-term MPs?

Today the MM Online publishes Storm brewing over Dr M as Pakatan chairman which reported the anger among some PKR members over the PKR party leaders (especially Maddy's nephew Azmin) sucking Mahathir's dick. MM Online narrated (extracts):

Discontent over Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's appointment as Pakatan Harapan chairman is causing Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's loyalists to consider breaking off from the pact, according to a report today.

The Star newspaper reported that pockets of Anwar supporters continue to reject Dr Mahathir over his past transgressions and were angered by his selection to lead the federal Opposition pact.

Despite the purported “reconciliation” between Dr Mahathir and Anwar whom he sacked as his deputy in 1998, the newspaper said that hardcore supporters of the latter felt betrayed by the former prime minister' rise to power in Pakatan Harapan.

Among these are members of the Otai Reformis group that continue to hold on to the “anger” of Anwar's sacking in 1998, as many of them were detained by authorities in the security crackdown that ensued.

The newspaper said that some are threatening outright to resign from the pact, and considering running against Pakatan Harapan under Parti Sosialis Malaysia's banner.

Two months ago the Star Online reported Rafizi admits his "stupidity" for not using AP allocation to buy car which published:

PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli has sarcastically admitted that he is among the "stupid" MPs who have not used their approved permit (AP) allocations to buy cars. [...]

Twitter user Zizou responded to Rafizi's tweet, asking him to be patient and not fight amongst party members.

"Not arguing, just want to remind," he said, adding that he prayed that Malaysians who support Pakatan Harapan would criticise its leaders if they did things that were not liked by the public.

Rafizi made his "admission" in an apparent response to Ampang MP Zuraida Kamaruddin, who was defending herself against allegations of corruption. [...]

I’m foolish if I don’t use AP to buy ‘quality’ cars 

Claims that Zuraida had extraordinary wealth and owned a variety of luxury cars are making the rounds on social media.

She admitted to owning luxury cars, saying she always went for quality.

Obviously Rafizi was making a sarcastic jab at Zuraida who is an Azmin Ali ally. Zuraida has admitted to using an AP to purchase a luxury car.

What about the PKR Indian camp where recently poor Sivarasa was chewed up by HRH Selangor for allegedly campaigning in a surau (or mosque) but which disappointingly saw MB Azmin Ali, advisor to HRH, becoming Pontius Pilate, wakakaka.

Indians in PKR have never fared well - we saw Nallakaruppan (Anwar's tennis matey) being sidelined in the party VP race (by orders of Anwar) to make way for Azmin to get that post.

Then Nalla was again sidelined in the Ijok by-election to allow parachutist Khalid Ibrahim to contest that seat because PKR then believed a Malay would do better, against advice from political observers such as Chandra Muzaffar and Premesh Chandran.

Nalla must have held back his tears as he bravely said he "declined" the nomination offered by Wan Azizah.

The embarrassing outcome for PKR was that the Ijok by-election was won by K Partiban, an Indian candidate put up by BN against Khalid Ibrahim, with quite a healthy 18% majority.

By then, twice overlooked Nalla left with his troops and eventually, so did Gobala (once chief bodeker of Anwar).

Then Dr Xavier Jayakumar (PKR) was left out of the Selangor 2013 exco because there were rumours 'someone' didn't like him. 'Twas left to the DAP to nominate the only Indian Adun as an exco.

(l) Sivarasa, (r) Xavier Jayakumar

I last heard N Surendran may not be re-nominated to his Padang Serai federal seat as PKR deems his performance in his constituency has not been up to speed.

Being a good bloke, much as PKR people might not believe, I had recommended Surendran to take over Tian Chua's seat in Batu as the latter wannabe martyr may have his GE-14 candidacy disqualified because of a recent RM3000 fine for mouthing (no, not biting, wakakakla) obscenities against a policeman.

Then Azmin Ali plays footsie-toosie with PAS while in bed with Pakatan Harapan, much to DAP and Amanah's annoyance. Can these two parties trust Azmin, though the Selangor MB doesn't give two figs what they think.

Last year, Malaysia Outlook reported what everyone already knows, namely, that Wan Azizah and Azmin aren't pally buddies (extract follows):

Azmin who is considered not in the good books of Wan Azizah has been getting stronger with party grass root leaders.

Azmin has a better grip in the party compared to Wan Azizah.

He has highly preferred by PKR members and sees him as the future leader who can entrust PKR’s battles against Barisan Nasional.

All this would not happen if Anwar was around, but poorly since he is serving the jail sentence it is hard to give direct command and group the sentiments of grass root leaders.

Azmin has better ties with former premier Mahathir Mohamed and in the future could move a leadership coup within PKR whilst strengthening his grassroots.

Even once Azmin wanted to contest against Wan Azizah for president’s post in the previous party election but at the eleventh hour was intervened by Anwar himself.

The political future of Rafizi Ramli is also a wee dodgy since he was found guilty by the Sessions Court on 14 November 2016.

Rafizi was sentenced for 18 months in jail after being convicted on two counts under OSA for making public documents from the Auditor General’s Report on 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) during a press conference in March 2016.

That sentence will disqualify him from being an election candidate. He has appealed the decision at the High Court, and like Tian Chua must wait to see whether he can still stand as a candidate in GE-14.