Seat Allocations: Greed Getting the Best of PKR
The formation of PKR itself was dodgy and this already tells a lot about covetous iniquity of Anwar’s so-called ‘reformist’ party. Incidentally, out of all the opposition parties PKR has the most Umno defectors namely it’s de facto leader Anwar himself, deputy president Azmin Ali, secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution, Fauzi Abdul Rahman (former Umno deputy minister) among many others.
Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) is a baby compared to its partners in Pakatan Rakyat. To be exact, PAS has 47 years on PKR while DAP has 38 years. Some of us may not know this (or have forgotten) but PKR was established in 2003 through a ‘merger’ between the then Parti Keadilan Nasional (PKN) and the socialist party Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) – hence its new name Parti Keadilan ‘Rakyat’. But what many of us may not know is the union was a messy affair as many in PRM disagreed to it.
What happened was the then PRM president Dr Syed Husin Ali (a mentor to Anwar Ibrahim) had prematurely agreed on the amalgamation with PKN. The thing is he did this without getting the consent of his party congress which is something that is required of PRM before a merger can be made as this was stipulated by PRM’s constitution. Even the Registrar of Societies (ROS) recognized this when the court decision favored the hardcore PRM members when it declared that PRM have not been dissolved and therefore the party is still a valid political party. However, up until now, PKR has never acknowledged PRM as a licit political organization.
To put it in less words, as Wee Choo Keong (now an Independent Wangsa Maju MP), who was one of the lawyers representing the PRM leaders who were against the merger, described it, “…the so-called ‘merger’ was a lie”. The former PKR leader said this in an interview with New Straits Times published on Feb 6, 2010. In the interview, Wee also said he “would even go as far as to say this (the merger) is deceptive.”
That’s a bit of history behind PKR’s formation and it’s by far not as bona fide as PRM’s history (which leaders include the likes of Ahmad Boestamam and Ishak Haji Muhammad aka Pak Sako). As a result of the ‘unofficial’ (and unethical) union, PKR’s membership swelled after it amassed many PRM members (some say more than 50 percent) including Tian Chua, Jonson Chong, Sanusi Osman, Latifah Koya and R Sivarasa joined PKR and Dr Syed Husin conveniently became PKR’s deputy president.
The formation of PKR itself was dodgy and this already tells a lot about covetous iniquity of Anwar’s so-called ‘reformist’ party. Incidentally, out of all the opposition parties PKR has the most Umno defectors namely it’s de facto leader Anwar himself, deputy president Azmin Ali, secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution, Fauzi Abdul Rahman (former Umno deputy minister) among many others.
If that wasn’t dubious enough, look at the way the party conducted its party election back in 2010 which saw Badrul Hisham Shahrin (aka Chegubard) accuse Anwar of intervening with the polls. Other very few good men in PKR that time, Zaid Ibrahim (also a former Umno leader by the way) and Selangor MB Khalid Ibrahim, also expressed dissatisfaction over the party polls. As a result, Zaid pulled out from the deputy president race and left the party and Khalid lost his Selangor chief post to his to Azmin. Billionaire Azmin also managed to pay his way into the party deputy post. And word has it it’s just a matter of time before PKR loses Chegubard.
A leopard never changes its spots. And the culture opportunism and exploitationism inculcated from Umno proved to be epidemic among PKR leaders. The greed that runs deep in the party leadership may well be the reason why Pakatan has yet to set up its shadow cabinet. The reason being is the component parties had failed to come to an agreement on the allocation of ministries simply because PKR wants most of the key ministerial posts to itself.
Now that the election is looming, the so-called reformist party is already setting its rapacious eyes on the parliamentary seats. Sources say among the list of seats PKR is planning to contest in include Langkawi, Alor Setar, Kulim Bandar Baharu, Bayan Baru, Nibong Tebal, Sungai Siput, Padang Rengas, Pasir Salak, Hulu Selangor, Pandan, Wangsa Maju, Setiawangsa, Ledang, Batu Pahat, Muar, Gelang Patah, Temerloh, Ketereh, Tanah Merah and Kota Belud. By the way, this is just half of the list and a very opportunistic and optimistic one indeed.
As it is, Johor PKR chief Chua Jui Meng (former MCA vice-president and health minister) has already asked DAP to allow him to contest in his old seat Bakri which incumbent MP is Er Teck Hua. Not surprisingly, Chua is being snubbed by DAP leaders. After all, it was not too long ago when he was he a rival of DAP and now he wants them to let him take over as the opposition candidate in the one and only Pakatan-held constituency in Johor. It was hard enough for Pakatan to make inroads in the BN-stronghold state.
Still, what’s most shocking is PKR’s intention to contest against fellow opposition Parti Sosialis Malaysia’s (PSM) Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj in Sungai Siput. There are very few MPs who are as committed, dedicated, sincere, hardworking yet as humble as Dr Jeyakumar. He beat his formidable opponent former MIC president S Samy Vellu with these admirable characteristics, not money politics, and now PKR wants to undermine him by taking him on in a three-cornered fight which would jeopardize the opposition’s foothold in the constituency entirely. This just shows that in PKR’s world, if they can’t have it no one else in the opposition else can. Well, maybe for Anwar and the gang winning small battles is more important than winning the war.
