Rafizi slammed for ‘false’ information
PKR insiders claim that party candidates for the GE are chosen not based on service rendered or popularity.
B Nantha Kumar, FMT
A PKR division chairman today took party strategy director Rafizi Ramli to task for saying that PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim was heading the party’s candidate selection committee.
The leader, who did not want to be named, said while it was commendable for Rafizi to defend the party’s candidate selection, the latter’s argument that Anwar was leading the committee was false.
“Rafizi should be brought to the party disciplinary committee as he tried to manipulate facts. It is not Anwar who is heading the committee but Azmin Ali (PKR deputy president),” he told FMT.
“It is also not true that the candidates list goes through a filter process. Anwar or Azmin select the candidates. Those they dislike are at the mercy of their ‘veto’ power,” he added.
The party insider claimed that Rafizi was not fit to answer issues pertaining to candidates selection because he was not a member of the party’s political bureau.
“Furthermore, Rafizi himself is Anwar’s ‘blue-eyed boy’. He is a parachute candidate for the Pandan parliamentary constituency… but he has lost touch with the Pandan PKR division ,” he said.
Earlier this week, Rafizi rejected allegations that party boss Anwar was making unilateral decisions in selecting PKR candidates for the general election.
He claimed that the selection committee headed by Anwar and the decision of the committee was preceded by “consultations at every level” of the party.
Meanwhile, anothr leader from Negri Sembilan challenged Rafizi to explain why Kamarul Baharin Abbas was selected to defend the Teluk Kemang parliamentary seat when he was defeated at the PKR divisional elections.
At the party elections two year ago, Kamarul Baharin, who is a close ally of Anwar, lost the division chairman post to Port Dickson assemblyman M Ravi.
“So by right, Ravi should be given the first priority to contest in Teluk Kemang. He is more visible in the constituency compared to Kamarul Baharin,” said the source.
