PETALING JAYA, July 30 — The knives are out and everything is out in the open as Parti Keadilan Rakyat’s (PKR) election reveals the depth of factionism within the party.
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is so far the only candidate for the post of president, a position currently held by his wife Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Ismail.
Anwar, however, did not make any mention of who he favours for his deputy or the four vice-presidents. This created a free-for-all scramble particularly among those who think they are close to Anwar jumping on to Anwar’s bandwagon.
The focus of the contest is on deputy president Datuk Seri Azmin Ali who is being challenged by vice-president Rafizi Ramli, an old time political foe who is appealing his jail sentence over the Banking Act.
The party poll is on September 14 and Sunday’s nominations will be for all posts — president, deputy president, four vice-presidents and 20 supreme council members — which also includes division and branch levels.
This election is the first after GE14 and the first with Anwar; from the looks of it, this is going to be a hard-fought election.
Distribution (or the lack) of rewards after the May 9 victory seems to have created disappointment and resentment among party members at various levels.
And Rafizi is no exception. Well-known for exposing the wrongdoings of the previous administration, he was disqualified from being fielded as a candidate in the last general election because of a court conviction which he is appealing.
Unfortunately for him, when Pakatan Harapan (PH) won in his absence, rewards distributed did not include him which probably spurred him to go for a higher position in the party hierarchy.
The vice-president is seen as Anwar’s man whom grassroots may not want to push aside in the leadership line-up as they see him as a potential leader who can lead the party.
However, in this election, the complication arises as he and Azmin are not only seen as “political enemies” but both are Anwar loyalists.
While Azmin is definitely a confirmed Anwar man — since the latter was Finance Minister in the BN days — Rafizi is closer to Wan Azizah and Nurul Izzah.
What’s more, Azmin is now a Cabinet minister who had, before his new appointment, proven his management skills in governing Selangor and managing the party alongside Wan Azizah as president.
Rafizi’s challenge is probably born out of frustration for not being recognised for contributing to the party’s victory and not being rewarded for it.
Or probably he sees Azmin is getting too powerful now that he is in the Cabinet and allowing him stay as deputy president will see the “death” of his political enemies.
So, contesting against Azmin now is just logical before he gets too powerful.
Whether Nurul Izzah is truly in Rafizi’s camp which gives the impression that Anwar gave his blessing for the challenge is true or false, Azmin now has a problem on his hand: a small rebellion to unseat him. Nothing which Azmin is unaccustomed to in his long political career.
