PKR youth chief under fire
Rembau PKR leaders say his Merlimau bid is disrupting Pakatan harmony
(Free Malaysia Today) – REMBAU: PKR youth chief Shamsul Iskandar Mat Akin’s ambition to contest in the Merlimau by-election is causing some unhappiness here.
Local PKR leaders said Shamsul Iskandar and his supporters should accept that Merlimau is for PAS to contest and stop lobbying for his candidacy. Instead, they added, he should use the by-election as an opportunity to train PKR youth members in campaign work.
One of the Shamsul backers still lobbying for his candidacy is Selangor PKR youth chief Khairul Anuar Ahmad Zainuddin.
In a recent interview with a Malay daily, he said he would still push for Shamsul Iskandar’s candidacy even though the Pakatan Rakyat leadership had decided to let PAS contest.
Rembau PKR youth chief Mohd Sani Mohd Shah said such an attitude was not good for opposition harmony.
“Seat allocations for by-elections should remain status quo,” he said.
“Demanding to contest the seat that was contested by PAS in March 2008 only creates cracks between PKR and PAS, especially at the grassroots level.
“Leaders can come and say we want to contest this seat and that seat and then they go off. But this kind of statement has an effect with leaders and members at the grassroots. It disrupts harmony and cooperation.”
He called on Pakatan to impose a gag order with regard to seat negotiations.
“Turning to the media does not guarantee anything, except to provide live and free ammunition to Barisan Nasional to shoot us,” he said.
Mohd Sani also said such public statements made the opposition look bad in the eyes of voters who had yet to decide whether to support BN or Pakatan.
“I have come across a few fence sitters asking me how we were going to run the country when PKR and PAS were already fighting even for a single seat,” he said.
Rembau PKR secretary Norazizi Abdul Aziz hit out directly at Shamsul Iskandar for carrying out what he described as a “silent campaign” in Merlimau even as other party leaders and members were working hard to help the PAS candidate in the Tenang by-election last month.
