A hot bed of controversy
Azmin Ali has established a clear lead in the contest for the PKR deputy presidency, Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim is putting up a good fight in Selangor but Saifuddin Nasution has taken off for London.
Joceline Tan, The Star
THE PKR election is still not over after more than two months. It has dragged on for so long that Datuk Saifuddin Nasution, one of the three candidates for the deputy president post, has left for London.
Saifuddin, who was the PKR secretary-general before he decided to vie for the No 2 post, is reportedly pursuing a two-month course in London.
Many people in the party were flabbergasted that Saifuddin would do something like this in the middle of a party election. His friends claimed that he could not wait any longer because he was anxious to attend the course.
Whichever way one looks at it, his action was akin to walking off in the middle of the race or what some regarded as an admission of defeat because Saifuddin is on course to coming in last behind the would-be victor and incumbent Azmin Ali and Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim.
Saifuddin probably did not expect to fail so badly, especially given that he had the backing of party strategist Rafizi Ramli as well as the most powerful man in PKR, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
But party members did not see him as deputy president material and neither did they appreciate that he was a stooge in the elaborate political intrigue to undermine Azmin and Khalid.
Saifuddin’s defeat was not just about the party rejecting him for the top post but it is also the first time that members have gone against Anwar’s wishes in such a big way. In that sense, Saifuddin’s defeat was more damaging to Anwar than to Saifuddin himself.
The PKR election was supposed to take place over three weekends from April 26 to May 11. But it had to be extended and re-elections had to be held in more than 40 divisions. The election has set the record as the longest polls for a political party.
PKR political aide Andy Lim in Sabak Bernam, where the polls were cancelled and postponed three times, said that the members were not only tired, they were also angry.
“When I asked our members to come out again to vote, they asked me: Sure or not?” said Lim.
The election has also been mired in controversy with more than 900 complaints lodged with the party election committee headed by Datuk Johari Abdul. Some party leaders warned of fireworks at the national congress in August if the complaints were not resolved in a satisfactory way.
The party, so famous for lecturing the SPR or Election Commission on how to do its job, had a taste of its own medicine. Some members are so dissatisfied with the election that they have questioned whether Johari and his team were truly independent or were taking orders from higher up.
Accusations and counter-accusations have flown back and forth. Kota Raja division chief and vice-president hopeful Dr Xavier Jayakumar was so upset about an allegation published by a pro-Pakatan Rakyat news portal that he is suing it for libel.
Supporters of Khalid are still hopeful that he can catch up with Azmin. Khalid has done surprisingly well in Selangor because he is said to have secured the bulk of the Indian vote. Indians form up to 50% of the Selangor membership and they have been turning up in droves to vote.
A big chunk of the Indian vote has gone against Azmin not because of Azmin per se but because the Indian groups want to stop Dr Xavier. The Indian groups are upset with Dr Xavier for a variety of reasons. Dr Xavier, who is closely linked to Azmin, is not the typical politician. He has this aloof air and the Indian groups feel he cannot relate to issues they feel strongly about.
Khalid has been the beneficiary of the simmering sentiments.
“Azmin may be the Selangor chairman but it does not mean that Selangor is 100% behind him. It’s like the World Cup – Brazil is the host but that does not mean that they will win the trophy,” said former Pandan chief Zakaria Rahim who used to manage the Selangor football team.
Khalid did very well in Klang and Kapar last weekend. He is also expected to do well in Kuala Selangor which voted yesterday and Hulu Langat which is voting today.
But Azmin is quite unstoppable by now.
Unofficial results, as of last weekend, have placed him ahead of Khalid by some 5,000 votes. He also received a boost when the party lifted the suspension of the election in Tawau, Sabah, which had delivered 800 votes to him.
Azmin has been with the party from its inception but he has finally come into his own. He had to fight his way through so many obstacles, chief of which was the perception that Anwar preferred Saifuddin over him.
Azmin is finally ready to emerge from the shadow of Anwar.
A former top aide of Anwar put it this way: “If the party wants Azmin, Anwar has no choice but to work with Azmin.”
Anwar asked Azmin to accompany him to London recently for a series of meetings. They attended a session on higher education in Muslim societies hosted by the International Institute of Islamic Thought.
Anwar spoke at the prestigious think-tank, Chatham House, which he had last visited when he was the Deputy Prime Minister. It was a significant moment for the mentor and mentee because Azmin had also accompanied Anwar in his first visit as the latter’s private secretary.
Their congenial London trip marked the end of a rather tense period between them that was caused by the way Anwar played his complicated divide-and-rule game.
Many senior and long-time members of PKR had questioned the way Anwar meddled in the PKR polls. They were upset that Anwar had called up people to solicit support for Saifuddin.
The old-timers admit that Azmin is not exactly Mr Fantastic in PKR but he stands out for his loyalty, track record and organising skills. This man, they like to say, has shed blood, sweat and tears for the party and deserves Anwar’s support more than Saifuddin.
Others have pointed the finger at Rafizi for putting Saifuddin up to it. They said the Pandan MP has grown over-confident after finding fame over his exposé of the NFC issue.
Even Anwar has noticed that Rafizi has grown big-headed and feels that Rafizi should not move up so quickly.
Rafizi’s move to put up Saifuddin for the No 2 post was reminiscent of the Kajang Move. Both schemes looked good on paper but flopped because they did not make sense on the ground. They were products that people did not want to buy.
Stories are also coming in about how he had emailed and texted divisional leaders to scold them for failing to deliver the vote to Saifuddin. He told one local leader that “our friendship ends here” while he sent an email to berate another politician whose division voted for Azmin.
“This election has shown Rafizi’s true colours,” said a party official.
Rafizi is currently in third place in the vice-president contest. Nurul Izzah Anwar is leading, Tian Chua is in second place while former AMK leader Shamsul Iskandar is in fourth place.
But Rafizi’s placing is not all that secure and he could possibly be overtaken by Shamsul when the Selangor votes come in.
Rafizi’s leadership in the Kemaman division is also in the balance. He had secured 74 votes over his little known opponent who got 73 votes.
But two more votes are under appeal. One belonged to a life member whose name was, however, not in the membership list. In the case of the other member, two digits in his IC did not match that in the membership list.
Both are bona fide members and their cases are being reviewed. If they are cleared and their ballots go through, Rafizi will lose because they voted for his opponent.
Some claimed that there are actually only two real winners in the party election. One is, of course, Azmin who has gone through the ultimate test and survived.
The other is Nurul Izzah who has come out on top despite a lot going on in her personal life. She has been largely riding on the family name thus far but if she is serious about being the future face of PKR, she has to build up her organising skills and work the ground.
The challenge now for these two top leaders is to trust each other and work together.
But many in the party are already talking about what lies ahead after the election and the big question is whether Khalid will survive as Mentri Besar of Selangor.
