Why I am very disillusioned with PKR

Francis Paul Siah, Malaysiakini

I didn’t mince my words when I sent this message to a very dear friend who is a key leader in Sarawak PKR the day he and his party comrades lodged a report at the Kuching MACC over alleged ambiguities in the Julau PKR division.

“Do you know that all of you look like clowns in the media requesting the MACC to go after one of your own MPs?

“What nonsense is this? You cannot even resolve a simple problem within a small division in your party and you expect us to believe that you can run the country!

“Again, I say ‘paloi’ to all those fighting one another in PKR. Sorry, my friend. The majority of Malaysians are not interested in your internal party problems. They are fed up”.

My friend attempted this feeble response: “So what do you expect us clowns to do? Keep quiet and let them destroy our party?”

It’s quite obvious that party members often do not see what is wrong within their own organisation and it takes an outsider to awaken them with the truth.

So let the truth be told.

Replying to my friend, I said that no one is destroying PKR from outside. It is PKR leaders themselves, due to their greed and lust for power, who are destroying the party. When they have power, they cannot handle it.

I’ve just viewed the video of the fracas in Keningau in which PKR deputy presidential candidate Rafizi Ramli was allegedly assaulted. It should have been a typical BN vs Pakatan Harapan scene during an election. Now, it’s a PKR vs PKR brawl. How sickening is that?

Many of us are probably aware that a top PKR leader is a notable schemer. He has been scheming throughout his long political career. At times, one wonders whether his political enemies only exist in his imagination. Such a leader who frequently indulges in shadow boxing is unfit to lead any organisation, let alone the nation.

Whether my friends in Sarawak PKR trust my words or not, this was my sincere message to them: “You guys in Sarawak PKR deserve better. I do not see any problem in Sarawak PKR. You are all decent and responsible folks. Why get entangled in nonsense imported from Malaya?”

“And why do you need the whole Sarawak PKR committee to be present to lodge a report against a member who only joined the party five months ago? You are all giving (PKR Julau MP) Larry Sng too much ‘face’ when he doesn’t deserve it? Wrong move!”

“The problem with PKR leaders now is that when there is no enemy to fight, they fight among themselves. No different from those Umno parasites whom Malaysians had just said good riddance to. Very disappointing and sad indeed!”

I ended with this poser to my friend: “So what if (deputy president) Azmin (Ali) wins? So what if Rafizi wins? What do Sarawak or Sarawakians benefit? Only some of you in the party will probably gain from the spoils of war if your ‘ayam sabong‘ (fighting cock) is victorious. Is this what the PKR election is all about – just for the benefit of a few in the party?”

Internal strife, bigger problems

What is happening in PKR today has greatly disappointed Malaysians. PKR emerged as the biggest party in the Harapan coalition after GE14 because of the support of Malaysians who wanted change. All the Harapan candidates who contested under the PKR symbol (except in Sarawak and Sabah) had greatly helped the party gained prominence too. PKR leaders should do well to bear that in mind.

A few months later, PKR turned out to be one big mess, a party which has lost the respect of many, mine certainly. The ongoing party polls are getting messier and dirtier with the police and MACC now involved. This makes the Umno elections, with the alleged involvement of money politics, pale into a fight among kindergarten kids.

No one, perhaps not even the PKR leadership, expected the party elections to turn out this way – one gigantic mess which could split the party right down the middle.

And we were told earlier that a party election is normal and part of the democratic process and that this would be a friendly contest within the family. Haven’t we heard enough of such crap from politicians?

I’ve posed this before in a previous article, so let me repeat it to the warring factions in PKR: Are you all happy to see either Azmin or Rafizi destroyed politically or would you be happier to see them working together and contributing positively for the betterment of the nation and people?

At this stage of the game, I predict a victory for Azmin. I also foresee more internal strife and bigger problems for PKR in the weeks and months down the road.

Oh, by the way, I also think our honourable Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu, is prime minister-material too. The Amanah president is humble, diligent and has long been known as a people’s fighter. And he is not a political schemer – what you see is what you get. I have a lot of respect for him.

And one more thing – I also think it’s okay for Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to renege on his promises by saying, “Oh, when I said it, I didn’t know we were going to win the elections”.

So PKR, don’t say you have not been warned. The people are watching.