PKR’s Trojan horses and Anwar’s three choices

(FMT) – With former PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali still having “Trojan horses” in the party, president Anwar Ibrahim has three choices to strengthen his party and keep hopes up to regain PKR’s stronghold constituencies in GE15, three political pundits say.

Political analyst Kenneth Cheng said Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and PPBM do not have the majority to govern the country and will try to convince PKR members to join them as they may not be able to influence DAP and Pejuang MPs.

“The best bet would be for PKR to sign statutory declarations,” he told FMT, adding that the party may still have MPs and state assemblymen who were aligned with Azmin when he was PKR’s number two.

FMT understands that there are six MPs aligned with Azmin and are waiting to see if they will keep their seats. “If they fail, they may jump ship to Gerakan and contest in the same constituency against PKR,” a source in the know said.

The source said that of the six, some may jump ship earlier as there is already talk that they may not get to defend their parliamentary seats while at least three may wait till GE15.

Multi-ethnic Gerakan, which recently joined Perikatan Nasional, is in need of some big names to reinvigorate it and it will be a win-win for the party if PKR bigwigs join them.

Yesterday, two PKR MPs quit the party and declared their support for Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin. They are Julau MP Larry Sng and Tebrau MP Steven Choong.

Cheng, who is a member of Agora Society, a loose network of intellectuals said Anwar needs to decide his next move. “He either enforces discipline by purging these Trojan horses or convinces them to stay put,” he said.

Socio-political analyst Awang Azman Pawi said it may be difficult to stop Azmin’s men from leaving the party as they are doing so in their individual capacity. “Before the Parliament session starts, it is expected that PN will discuss and make offers to PKR MPs. They do not have the numbers,” he added.

The only way for PKR to move forward, he said, was to purge MPs and state assemblymen aligned with Azmin and bring in professionals and those dedicated to the party’s cause.

“There are a lot of professionals, activists and Otai Reformis members who have dedicated their lives to the party’s reform agenda,” he added.

Political analyst Kartini Aboo Talib of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia said other than purging or convincing PKR members to remain loyal to the party, PKR could ask Amanah to dissolve and merge with them. She said Amanah was becoming irrelevant after failing to gain traction with the rakyat and many members in the PAS splinter party may be losing confidence.

“This way, PKR will be able to convince more Malay voters to vote for them,” she said. Anwar, she added, needed to go to the ground to meet his party members, including his machinery and convince the rakyat on PKR’s role in the country.

On Saturday, three Amanah assemblymen – Khairuddin A Rahim, Faizul Amri Adnan and Muhamad Said Jonit crossed over to PKR. Amanah communications director Khalid Samad said their departure was not surprising, adding that rumours of their exit from the party have been going around for some time now.

But he said their move would not affect ties within PH or between PKR and Amanah, adding that the assemblymen remained committed to the coalition.