Anwar Ibrahim fiddles while Rome Sabah burns?

Most Malaysians who have been following Malaysian politics, especailly opposition politics, know that Azmin Ali has been and is the right hand man of Anwar Ibrahim, El Supremo of PKR and the accepted leader of the loose coalition called Pakatan Rakyat.

Ironically, while Anwar Ibrahim has been acknowledged as the vital glue that holds the component parties of Pakatan together, his party PKR has also been identified as the alliance's weakest link.

PKR is the successor to Parti KeADILan, with the latter created as a single-issue political entity, to fight for the release of Anwar Ibrahim after he was incarcerated in the original sodomy affair, known locally as Sodomy I (where there is currently a case pending in court unofficially referred to as Sodomy II).

Subsequently KeADILan merged with PRM to form PKR (to my mind as well as many in PRM, that was a sad mistake by Dr Syed Husin). Anyway, in its hasty formation it indiscriminately recruited a considerable number of questionable members - 'questionable' in their commitments to the Pakatan avowed 'clean' politics.

We have certainly witnessed the lack of discipline in a number of PKR members, but worse, we hear of them 'continuing' to harbour the grosser ends of UMNO mentality.

With the exit from PKR of Ezam Mohd Noor, once known as the left hand man of Anwar Ibrahim (well, or vice versa with Ezam as the RH man and Azmin the LH man), maybe Azmin has come to believe he stands just a heartbeat away from being No 1 in PKR and by default (perhaps his ego allows him to think so) the primus inter pares of the Pakatan coalition.

Pak Haji Hadi Awang has similar aspiration wakakaka.

Azmin first showed his ambitious fangs when in July he was reported to demand reshuffling of the state exco but Selangor MB Khalid Ibrahim ignored him – see Azmin Ali continues attacking Selangor government.

There have been suggestions that Azmin Ali was after the Selangor MB job (my speculation - perhaps a ‘half loaf’ re-strategizing given the unlikelihood of PKR being part of the federal ‘916’ government).

Then disgruntled former-DAP-now-PKR Wee Choo Keong leapt into the fray by making very unpleasant insinuations which could have led to the MACC initiating investigations into alleged corruption of DAP Selangor ADUNs – see PKR MP Wee Choo Keong drops a bombshell and Liu challenges Wee to name exco member with ties to underworld.

Wee made the statement in support of PKR MP Azmin Ali when the latter called for changes in the Selangor exco line-up.

Errr …… did we say Pakatan is a coalition?

Now dear Azmin Ali is in the limelight again, as a man highly unwanted in Sabah where he was appointed by Anwar Ibrahim as the PKR State chief. Naturally the locals have taken umbrage that ‘Kuala Lumpur’ (UMNO or PKR, WTF it's still those penjajahan dari barat lah) has again shafted a West Malaysian down their throat as their ‘leader’.

16 of PKR Sabah divisions have lodged their lack of confidence in Azmin Ali. They want instead local boy Jeffrey Kitingan. For more, read Haris Ibrahim’s We want ketuanan rakyat, not ketuanan Melayu, in Sabah.

But far more troubling than this, has been the RPK article PKR is on self-destruct mode in Sarawak and Sabah which stated:

For example, Sabah is throwing a Hari Raya bash and Dr Jeffrey Kitingan has invited Zaid Ibrahim as their guest. Zaid has agreed to attend but there are those in PKR who do not want him to go. They want him to boycott the event to send a message to PKR Sabah that Kuala Lumpur is not supportive of Jeffrey.

If the PKR leadership thinks that Jeffrey should go then tell him so. Then let him go back to Barisan Nasional if this is what PKR wants. But to boycott his Hari Raya party and to order Zaid to not attend the event is not only childish but damaging the opposition cause as well.

It is time this nonsense stops. We just can’t treat the East Malaysians like we are their colonial masters.

Is it any wonder that Zaid Ibrahim is so pissed off that he has abruptly taken 6 months leave.

The Malaysiakini latest news headline Zaid goes on leave, crisis in PKR? stated [extracts]:

The surprise announcement comes amid talk that the former Umno leader is locked in a squabble with PKR vice-president Azmin Ali.
With PKR deputy president Syed Husin Ali to bow out of the party soon, both Azmin and Zaid are seen to be potential candidates to fill the post.

There has been moves by Sabah PKR leaders to oust Azmin as the state party chief.

Malaysiakini has learnt that Zaid was to be dispatched to Sabah this weekend on a trouble-shooting mission under the guise of attending a hastily-arranged Aidil Fitri function.

Azmin, according to insider accounts, objected and claimed that Zaid could not be an honest broker.

In a statement released this afternoon, Zaid, who joined PKR in June, said he would not be attending the party's political bureau meetings.

Like all leaders, Anwar Ibrahim has a number of leadership weaknesses. Unfortunately one of them is his reluctance to discipline his PKR troops – the Kulim Wonder and his totally un-Pakatan behaviour being a prime example. Azmin Ali appears to be another.

PKR has already (progressively) lost Ezam, Nalla, etc etc, and now probably Zaid Ibrahim. Whether these blokes were/is worthy or not is not the point but their cases seem to point to a common denominator.

Is Anwar Ibrahim going to just fiddle while his (PK)R-ome burns?