Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle
PKR broke tradition when it separated the functions of the state administration from the party by appointing vice president Azmin Ali to head the Selangor division, a position traditionally held by the Mentri Besar.
Selangor is PKR's main state and the jewel in the Pakatan Rakyat's crown. Sunday's announcement is a systemic change aimed at ensuring vital check-and-balance and that party leaders cannot abuse state coffers for their personal advantage. It is a move that Umno warlords would never allow their party to push through.
Unfortunately, the personalities involved and their infighting has clouded what is actually a very good move, a natural suggestion for improving transparency. It is also one of many long-lasting structures that PKR needs to build to strengthen itself and to protect its voters.
The immediate reaction to last night's announcement has been one mostly of surprise. The knee-jerk reaction is that de-facto PKR head Anwar Ibrahim is just delaying choosing between Mentri Besar Khalid Ibrahim and Azmin. And it is a matter of time before Azmin goes after Khalid again. In other words, a thumbs down.
But look more closely. Even if Azmin is unsatisfied, the system stays. He won't be able to hold both posts - not because Anwar and the party leadership do not trust him but because this is a systemic revamp that will remain in place. If later on, PKR dispenses with it, then this is when the
rakyat should raise their voices and complain, this is when its supporters and constituents should sound alarm bells because why U-turn to a plank that is more susceptible to corruption and abuse of power?
The next point. Is Azmin really so corrupt? Who says so? What was he before March 8, 2008? How come he is now Khir Toyo Junior? And is Khalid so clean? He is also a former Umno guy and so is Zaid Ibrahim - let's be frank, both men have their own histories. But why is it that they have both reformed while Azmin has sold his soul? It really depends on your level of gullibility but according to the latest news reports from the Umno media, Azmin is now more open to corruption than Khalid and Zaid.
One way to tell if this is true is to look at what each of the three men has done in the past 10 years. Without wanting to glorify Azmin or to run down the well-respected Khalid and Zaid , isn't it a fact that Azmin did fight and struggle during the past 10 years? Without him, PKR may never have been born. If Azmin sees only Ringgit signs, why didn't he join Ezam, Salehuddin and that bunch? If allegations are true that Umno paid DAP's Hee Yit Foong RM25 million, imagine what sort of figure Azmin could command? Why should he wait?
But sadly, these questions are overlooked amidst the slew of spin relentlessly churned by the Umno press. So bad was the negative publicity that initially party stalwarts feared Anwar might delay making any changes at all. But now that such a move has gone through, there is relief among many stalwarts in the party.
Of course, there will be just as many detractors who will criticize it from different angles. They won't be completely off-mark either because every argument has its own strengths and the actual implementation will need give-and-take. But it is a good policy and the cut-off point comes when the issues that surround it are deliberately misinterpreted and used with malice to attack the party for the purpose of destabilizing it or for manipulation for personal and vested interests.
That there is intense rivalry between Azmin, Khalid and Zaid is for sure. That they each want to be the next Timbalan Presiden is a given, regardless of any modest demurral by their respective aides.
So, is that wrong? Is it unnatural for them to want to compete? Would it make PKR stronger if its next-generation leaders were obedient yes-men who would only dare go for it when Anwar gives the green light?
No, but PKR leaders have to be very careful because they can unwitting rock their own boat. Their boat is much more fragile than they think. Firstly, the perception that they are the darlings of the urban citizenry is no longer true. This is a fact they must wake up to and put right immediately - not just rush to improve communications with the rural electorate. The fact is they have become pitifully weak in both the urban and rural arenas thanks to missteps and bad advice of the past year.
Possibly, there is still enough time to get going - but just barely. The hope of PKR well-wishers is that Anwar won't take a breather now that he has sanctioned this change. He really needs to do much more and much more quickly.
As for the by-now infamous G15, there has been so much hype even some of the strongest of PKR supporters insist it is not a rumor but an open secret. They even claim it is a fact well known to people who matter in the party.
Yet most of the top echelon are baffled. To them, it is really not true and although none of them deny there is rivalry between Azmin, Khalid and Zaid, they are shocked at the level of media opportunism and never expected such a circus. Some of them told
Malaysia Chronicle perhaps 3 or 4 federal lawmakers loyal to Azmin were trying to push his case but not in the wild manner suggested in the press.
How that was spun into a Group of 15 with a common agenda to topple a waffly Khalid and how an ambitious Azmin has been turned into a corrupt ogre, while Khalid and Zaid have become the new saints and saviors is a wonder to them.
Even Azmin is left wondering why he is now viewed as the most greedy-for-money man in PKR, the weakest link and the Malay ultra who poses the greatest danger to the party's multi-racial and liberal policies.
The answer and main culprit is of course the overdone speculation in the press. And that was mostly Umno-initiated with the help of some internal saboteurs in PKR itself. After all, if Azmin has his own gang, why not Khalid or Zaid for that matter! Or some other unseen hand or group for that matter! Politics is indeed murky and most of the time intentionally so.
Whether PKR - with its awful lack of structural strengths and a horde of untested and unreliable lawmakers - can survive will ultimately depend on whether Malaysians still believe in the party's battle cry for justice and reform.
An unfriendly media is not something new and the negative propaganda will get a 1,000 times worse as the 13th GE nears. It is up to PKR to find the right tools to fight back and the good eggs in their basket will have to take the lead. They have to show that PKR can be salvaged and the
reformasi party that Malaysians knew and supported in the past is still alive and has not been hijacked and diverted from its goals.