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To be, or not to be (party president): that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them? - Hamlet, Act 3, Scene I |
Outgoing PKR Women chief Zuraida Kamaruddin has urged her party not to prevent its members from challenging any party post, including the presidency - which will be contested by Anwar Ibrahim.
In the same statement, she also praised the capabilities of Economic Affairs Minister Azmin Ali.
"Azmin is among the dynamic leaders who are capable of leading. This was proven in the previous Selangor administration, his current senior government portfolio as economic affairs minister proves his contributions will have a positive impact in our joint efforts to steer our beloved PKR ship.
"As such, PKR Women stresses that besides welcoming Anwar's offers to contest the presidency, the party must also respect its constitution in opening space for a contest in any position without any hindrance," she said in a statement last night.
It is unclear if Zuraida's statement is a bid to push Azmin to challenge Anwar for the presidency.
Asked to clarify, Zuraida told Malaysiakini that Azmin was prepared to contest any position.
Malacca PKR Women chief Ginie Lim also issued a similar statement saying there should be no barrier preventing anyone from challenging Anwar, while also playing up Azmin's credentials.
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Ginie Lim |
It's the clearest sign by the Dwarfs Faction in PKR that Azmin Ali is about to challenge Anwar Ibrahim for the PKR party presidency.
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(above) Dark Dwarfs, (below) Pandan Cats (missing from photo above - Latheefa Koya of the Dwarfs) |
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Latheefa |
And if Azmin does, he is likely to win. The maths have been worked out by the Dwarfs. While Anwar was languishing in prison, his erstwhile blue-eyed mentee has been busy building up his own support base, to an extent that even Wan Azizah now has problems controlling the entire party.
What will be the ramifications of an Azmin-Ali challenge for party president against the legendary PKR hero in Anwar Ibrahim?
There is no doubt PKR will fracture with the major part, the Dark Dwarfs, pledging loyalty and allegiance to Azmin. The smaller fraction, to wit, the Pandan Cats, will remain loyal and devoted to Anwar.
Some of the members of the Dark Dwarfs, those with higher moral conscience and a sense of PKR history, may hesitate in abandoning Anwar as the very thought of such treachery to the party legend would be far too revolting.
If we were to take the likelihood of Azmin Ali winning the party presidency and the event of a subsequent party fracture to extraordinary extrapolation, the Dark Dwarfs may join Pribumi. That will be Mahathir's deepest wish as it kills two birds with one Dwarf - he will kowtim his reformasi bete noire and fortifies his current pitiful handful 12 MPS, but virtually all of whom are ministers in his cabinet.
That will leave the Pandan Cats as a smaller weaker PKR. But the disadvantage of such a move will be the non-bumis in the Dwarfs Fraction becoming marginalised and of necessity, discarded (because of Pribumi ketuanan membership).
Another scene, more unlikely, will be the Pandan Cats leaving to form another new party, probably called Parti Reformasi.
A third alternative, even more unlikely, will be a unique merger between the Pandan Cats and the DAP where the latter will be boosted by a significant Malay membership which it currently lacks.
Anwar leading the Cats to re-join UMNO is far far too bizarre, dangerous and damaging to the reputation of the legendary de facto Leader.
Another aspect of the ramification of such a fracture, assuming Azmin Ali wins the party presidency, will be the adverse compromise of the promised status quo of Anwar as the 8th PM. He may then even be replaced by Azmin Ali, in which scenario the Pakatan Harapan coalition becomes destabilised unless the DAP abandons its unspoken bonds with Anwar Ibrahim and accepts Azmin Ali as heir-apparent to Mahathir.
Related: Anwar Ibrahim's D-Day on Nor-Maddy beach.
Interesting. Bring it on. Time for Anwar and Azmin to duel it out. I foresee PH splitting b4 GE14l5. Not necessarily a bad thing. Rakyat may hv better choices then. Bcos current regime has lost its reformasi platform. Swallowed by Tu(r)n M. Let those who are pro Tu(r)n M go with him. And those who are pro Anwar go with him. Better this way than suffer in silence bitting the bullet as some of them are doing now. Have it all out in the open.
ReplyDeleteWishful thinking....blur blur thinking..
DeleteThis guy below knows the real deal
ReplyDeletehttps://www.malaymail.com/s/1653326/anwar-seen-having-clear-path-to-pkr-presidency
No political party should subscribe to a "No Contest" framework.
That is a recipe for ossification and senility, and it did achieve that in the most obvious manner in UMNO.
Corollary to that is the losers in party elections have to accept the results, and move on. Prerequisite, of course, is the elections must be carried out properly. DAP got into big trouble because of accusations the CEC elections were not kosher.
The political reality is that if Anwar contests the PKR Presidency, he will win hands down.
Genie Lim worked for Anwar personally for years, so you are wrong if you think she promoting someone else's candidacy.
The real threat to the Anwar team, which he nibbed in the bud, is if Wan Azizah continued to contest the Presidency, and is challenged by Azmin, then it would be a wide open contest.
PKR is well aware it is now part of the Federal Government, and needs to step up to the plate. Wan Azizah will not do, much as I respect her.
The battle , to be fought in the future, is who succeeds Anwar Ibrahim. But Anwar will leave the leadership when he choses to, not by being voted out.
If PKR does not manage that properly , it will tear itself apart.
The obvious camps will be (1) Azmin (2) Rafizi.
Rafizi has built strong support from the "Liberal" wing of PKR, Azmin is more with the "Malay conservative" wing.
Two different visions of PKR's future direction.
But Azmin is not UMNO, his record in Selangor is clear on that.
Nurul will carry a lot of influence as her father's natural successor, so who she aligns with will have critical impact.
I believe Nurul will probably eventually be Malaysia's first female Prime Minister, but that is quite some years away.
That's real democracy in PKR party elections in action. Whoever wants to contest also can, but at the end of the day, everyone makes up and accept the leader voted for. It has happened before and everything was fine.
ReplyDeleteCompare that with UMNO party elections before where the thought of even nominating what more challenging the President or Deputy President is considered treasonous by it's members. What sort of democracy is that?
Only those who fear to lose usually are the ones who kills democracy in any party or election.
i dun think azmin is strong enough to challenge anwar. he try to warn anwar sect not to challenge him. i support rafizi to go for deputy.
ReplyDelete