The way forward for PKR
“PKR has to clearly decide what kind of leaders it wants, then pick the people who fit that mould and structure the organisation along those lines,” he said. “There is currently a lack of strong party leaders at the ground level. The quality of an organisation depends very much on this.”
By Stephanie Sta Maria, Free Malaysia Today
PAS has just wrapped up a successful congress, while DAP recently basked in the afterglow of its Sibu by-election victory. PKR, on the other hand, is still fighting off attacks from former party colleagues and is considered to be the weakest link in the Pakatan Rakyat coalition.
The party elections in December, therefore, could well be a golden but final opportunity for PKR to pull itself together before the next general election. To gain an overview of the party’s possible route forward, FMT spoke to one of its more vocal members, Zaid Ibrahim.
As PKR’s central leadership council member, Zaid has consistently voiced his recommendations on rebuilding the party to the leadership. For this interview, however, he made it clear that he was not speaking on behalf of the party but only on the basis of his observations in the past one year.
“There are weaknesses in the PKR’s system that could drag Pakatan down,” he said. “One of them is Anwar Ibrahim’s title of PKR de facto leader.”
“He should be the party president in order to set in motion the transformation that we are talking about. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (PKR’s current president) is a wonderful lady but she is not a politician in the true sense.”
Zaid explained that with Anwar as president, the party will be prompted to make the necessay changes, especially on what kind of leadership he wants and the issues that should take priority. According to him, the former is of great importance and should be PKR’s focus for the future.
“PKR has to clearly decide what kind of leaders it wants, then pick the people who fit that mould and structure the organisation along those lines,” he said. “There is currently a lack of strong party leaders at the ground level. The quality of an organisation depends very much on this.”
“PKR needs to identify good people who possess the spirit of reformasi and who still believe in democracy and the ideals of a better government. These are the party’s core principles.”
Deep, meaningful roots
The Pakatan secretariat coordinator pointed out that a struggle has to have deep, meaningful roots and cannot be sustained solely by a set of intangible beliefs or historical circumstances.
“There must be hope that things are moving forward. If you want to revive that spirit, then you must have credible people at the state level to build the network that is crucial in an organisation. And this process has to begin now before the struggle becomes diluted. It’s not that difficult, we just have to kick-start it.”
Zaid also highlighted the advantages of practising democracy within the party, particularly when it involved the selection of candidates and suggested that the selection be made by the grassroots instead of the central leadership.
“PKR is a grassroots reformation party, so we have to be driven by the people. Our constitution currently dictates that the state chiefs are selected by the party’s top people, which is very much in Umno style.”
“If the state chiefs are handpicked by the grassroots, then there is a sense of check and balance and accountability. When you are responsible for making a decision, you tend to make sure that decision works better and you don’t blame others for its failure. PKR is still very top down in its process and I think that has to change.”
Zaid added that his yardstick for success is the day a group of party supporters take the initiative to mobilise themselves to get things done.
While he acknowledged the need for a charismatic, hardworking leader to helm the party, he also said meshing that with grassroots strength and better quality members would take PKR much further.
“Anwar still holds the fort in PKR but we cannot depend on him alone. PKR in itself has to be strong if we want the other two parties to respect us and work with us. We have to complement Anwar’s strength with organisational strength.”
