‘Give fresh face a chance to lead PKR’
PKR will become stronger with someone else as deputy president, says the incumbent vice-president
Alyaa Azhar, Free Malaysia Today
Incumbent PKR vice president Fuziah Salleh believes that Azmin Ali should not defend his post as deputy president of the party.
In an interview with FMT, she said she could “live with either Saifuddin Nasution or Abdul Khalid Ibrahim” as deputy president.
“It would be good for the party to give someone else a chance to lead. The party would be stronger if we gave the chance to a fresh face to take over.”
Fuziah, who claims that she maintains a strong grassroots presence, said her opinion was based on feedback from the ground.
She said grassroots members were unhappy with Azmin’s performance as the party’s election director for the last general election.
“Many were frustrated with the then election director in terms of seat allocation and choice of candidates,” she said.
Fuziah heaped praise on both Saifuddin and Khalid although she appeared to favour Saifuddin for the deputy presidency, saying he had “good political acumen”.
“He also has a good rapport with Pakatan Rakyat,” she said. “He can play a role in further uniting Pakatan.
“Khalid, on the other hand, has shown how he has been able to govern with principles of good governance. It is an achievement to be reckoned with.”
The three candidates are vying for the deputy presidency in the April 25-May 11 party polls.
Nurul Izzah Anwar, N Surendran and Tian Chua are, like Fuziah, defending their vice-presidential posts. They face challengers Rafizi Ramli, Baru Bian, Mustaffa Kamil Ayub, R Suresh Kumar, N Shanmugam, Streram Sinnasamy, Mohd Yahya Shahri, Lee Chin Cheh, Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin and Xavier Jeyakumar.
Fuziah welcomed the formation of teams to fight in the elections, saying the phenomenon should be celebrated as a genuine feature of democracy.
