PKR members are already seeing signs that Azmin is in control, beginning with Baru Bian’s majority laced press conference in Putrajaya to Azmin’s own presser involving PKR’s high command.
On Saturday, Azmin led 20 elected central committee members in a protest against the sacking of Baru Bian’s former pol-sec and demanded an apology from Anwar.
All this will culminate this coming weekend in “a spectacular show of power” with team Anwar and team Azmin “sparring off” with each other, albeit in separate locations, at the same time, by holding separate congresses to see “who has the most numbers.”
Call it stupid or what you may, but this will definitely be the beginning to the end of Anwar Ibrahim and may even be the precursor to an Azmin mooted EGM or mass exodus, and subsequently, the 15thMalaysian General Election.
PETALING JAYA: Media channels aligned with the DAP are hard at the perception game with claims that Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim is in firm control of PKR and that the party’s ‘powerful’ political bureau is in his clutches.
That’s a lie.
Truth is, the bureau has been reduced to nothing but “a toothless tiger” by Anwar himself who has assumed “dictatorial command” over the party his wife established to “fight Mahathirism and seek political reform in the country.”
Those were the dreams of many a PKR supporter back in the day.
However, the minute Anwar shook hands with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad on the pretext of “letting bygones be bygones,” many branch and division leaders became disillusioned and questioned if PKR was still relevant.
But it was the statement Anwar issued prior to the PKR Port Dickson retreat that broke the camel’s back.
On the 18th of July 2019, Anwar stood facing the press, hinting that his deputy, Dato’ Seri Azmin Ali was guilty of “carnal intercourse against the order of nature.”
“It would depend on the investigation…. if the investigation is already conclusive in terms of the participants of the so-called act, then I think he needs to resign,” a news portal quoted him as saying.
The move was meant to discourage Azmin’s supporters and drive them into camp Anwar out of fear that the former’s days were over.
But it backfired.
Not only did it infuriate some of Anwar’s own people, they accused him of betraying the very man who stood by him all this while, against all odds.
Back when the courts found Anwar guilty of sodomy, Azmin refused to back down, insisting that the former was innocent and the victim of political persecution.
Later, when Anwar went to prison, nobody, not even his wife, Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, looked into the welfare of party members and leaders who stood by him in battle since the days of Mahathir.
It was Azmin all the way – from funding group activities to the nitty gritty involving personal welfare, Azmin gave Anwar loyalists a hundred and one reasons why they needed to stay loyal to PKR and true to the reformasi struggle.
So you can imagine how furious they became when they saw Anwar throwing brickbats at Azmin from the podium.
As we speak, Anwar has lost all forms of control over the central bureau and has resorted to sacking just about anyone seen aligned with Azmin, including Sarawak PKR chief Baru Bian’s former pol-sec, Zakaria Abd Hamid.
The youth wing was not spared.
Anwar got his men to sack its chairman (Muhamad Mizan Adli Mohd Nor) and deputy chairman (Mohd Ramly Ahmad) days ahead of the upcoming PKR national youth convention in Malacca.
Anwar is well aware that the wing chairman plays a pivotal role in deciding the tone and flavour of the convention.
He fears that Azmin and Mizan would upstage his presence and receive overwhelming support from an already furious crowd in the event Azmin was allowed to officiate the event.
There have already been numerous calls by state and national level leaders for PKR members to boycott all Anwar events and for Azmin to take over as party president.
On Sunday, I wrote:
Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim is getting very desperate seeing that his support in PKR is waning and has resorted to a dictatorial approach to seize complete control of the party.
Earlier today, Muhamad Mizan Adli Mohd Nor and Mohd Ramly Ahmad were both relieved from their respective positions as permanent chairman and deputy chairman of the youth wing for reasons that made no sense.
The sackings of Muhamad and Ramly along with Baru Bian’s former pol-sec and the unceremonious treatment of Azmin in recent days upset party grassroots immensely and has since sparked calls for a nationwide boycott of all Anwar events.
The boycott became apparent during the recently concluded convention in Sarawak which a PKR leader close to Sarawak PKR chief Baru Bian described as a failure.
If current indicators are anything to go by, you can forget about the so-called coup attempt Anwar’s men want you to think he’s planning against Mahathir, because, by the time Azmin is through, Anwar may not even have a party to begin with, let alone his quest to become Prime Minister.
As we speak, a very powerful team in PKR comprising state and national level leaders is considering calling for an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) to retire Anwar for good by mooting a vote of no-confidence against him.
I have been made to understand that the Malay-majority, multiracial team has the support of several DAP Members of Parliament (MPs) aligned with Azmin and the required quorum to call for the EGM before year end.
Azmin holds beneficial ownerships to more than half of PKR’s strategic assets and enjoys majority support from party leaders nationwide, including 33 PKR MPs, an estimate provided by a well placed source with evidence to go along with it.
That’s two MPs up from a previous estimate provided by the same source who is dead sure PKR is already “an Azmin Ali party” except in name.
Suffice to say, PKR members are already seeing signs that Azmin is in control, beginning with Baru Bian’s majority laced press conference in Putrajaya to Azmin’s own presser involving PKR’s high command.
On Saturday, Azmin led 20 elected central committee members in a protest against the sacking of Baru Bian’s former pol-sec and demanded an apology from Anwar.
All this will culminate this coming weekend in “a spectacular show of power” with team Anwar and team Azmin “sparring off” with each other, albeit in separate locations, at the same time, by holding separate congresses to see “who has the most numbers.”
Call it stupid or what you may, but this will definitely be the beginning to the end of Anwar Ibrahim and may even be the precursor to an Azmin mooted EGM or mass exodus, and subsequently, the 15thMalaysian General Election (GE15).
RJ RITHAUDEEN
