Anwar will destroy Pakatan for Azmin, warns Gobala
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 3 — N. Gobalakrishnan has continued his diatribe against Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, now predicting the break-up of the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) pact if the de facto leader continues playing favourites with his “blue-eyed boy” Azmin Ali.
The renegade leader, who recently quit PKR, told The Malaysian Insider that PAS and DAP leaders needed to do some serious “soul searching” if they wanted the pact to last and should advise Anwar to stop protecting his party’s deputy president.
“They will not last otherwise. If they do not speak to Anwar… they will not last. No way,” said the independent Padang Serai MP.
Gobalakrishnan claimed that Anwar’s constant protection of Azmin was quickly weakening PKR and this would eventually cause the downfall of PR.
PKR has often been described as the weakest link in PR’s armour but with its partners PAS and DAP constantly at loggerheads over religious policies, the multiracial party has also been viewed as the glue that keeps the pact intact. But it has remained united despite several MPs jumping ship over the past one year.
“A weak PKR leads to a weak PR because Anwar is the chosen leader… he is supposed to toe the line, he is supposed to be impartial as he is supposedly PR’s prime minister-designate.
“But now, Anwar is obviously ready to sacrifice anything; the support of the Indian community, the Malays, the Sabah and Sarawak natives, just for the sake of promoting Azmin.
“So if he keeps doing this, PKR will fall apart and then so will Pakatan,” he said.
Gobalakrishnan quit the PKR, citing his growing disillusionment with Anwar and his right-hand man Azmin and claiming that the duo often sidelined party loyalists for personal interests.
“I do not know what kind of knowledge or information that Azmin has that makes Anwar want to protect him so much. You should ask Anwar about that.
“But it is making PKR irrelevant,” he said.
The Padang Serai MP added that the PR pact needed to decide on “what to do with Anwar” and question the de facto leader why he was giving so much prominence to his former private secretary.
He said that PR leaders should even consider telling Azmin to leave politics for good.
“Tell him to be a businessman instead, since now the entire Selangor economy is controlled by Azmin and his cronies.
“If PR leaders feel Anwar is still needed and is still relevant, then they should tell him to choose between Azmin and PR,” he said.
But if Anwar was unwilling to let go of Azmin, added Gobalakrishnan, the leader should bow out from politics himself.
He claimed that the Selangor administration was now in “shambles” because of Anwar and Azmin, saying that corruption could be found at every level.
“Corruption does not necessarily mean direct corruption…. it also means cronyism and nepotism… when these things are introduced, then corruption comes,” he said.
Anwar is currently the Selangor economic adviser while Azmin is the state assemblyman for Bukit Antarabangsa.
Gobalakrishnan said that from his conversations with many local councillors in the state, he had discovered that many had grown rich in their positions.
“They are given contracts, opportunities and they have grown rich. One councillor proudly told me how proud he was to be a councillor because of the opportunities. He has five cars in his house and he bought them all with cash,” he said.
“This is why (DAP adviser) Lim Kit Siang, (PAS president Datuk Seri) Abdul Hadi Awang must do some serious soul searching.
“They should use their powers to advise Anwar about this… otherwise, PR will just fall,” he said.
Gobalakrishnan is one of Anwar and Azmin’s biggest critics and joined the ranks of other former PKR dissident leaders last Saturday when he quit the party.
