By Mariam Mokhtar
WHEN will the prime-minister-in-waiting, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, show his leadership qualities?
When will he start to cull his party PKR and get rid of the weeds? He should be firmer and more decisive.
- On that note, I wish to point out that weeding or culling PKR will:
- Improve discipline
- Get rid of traitors who damage the party, who are probably secretly informing Perikatan Nasional (Perikatan) of PKR’s internal goings-on.
- Strengthen the party (within and outside)
- Give renewed hope to the rakyat
Terror outfit, Taliban, organise sleeper cells which gets activated when they feel the time is right. The same happens in Malaysian politics. Over the weekend, Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali activated his sleeper, the Kuala Langat MP Datuk Dr Xavier Jayakumar.
Jayakumar defected to Perikatan. His excuse for defecting, was “to avoid snap polls”. He was being economical with the truth. Jayakumar is now a pro-Perikatan independent MP. We have nice words for him, which are unprintable.
The 15th General Election (GE15) will probably be after Hari Raya. The preparation is being done now. Destroy PKR because it is the weakest link in the Pakatan Harapan coalition.
Soon, more defections will happen because Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin wants to create chaos in PKR and the other parties like Umno and PAS. Muhyiddin wants to triumph in GE15.
Since GE14, PKR has seen the most defections out of the component parties of Pakatan.
Azmin’s supporters remaining in PKR, will inflict untold damage to the party if nothing is done by Anwar to get rid of these troublemakers.
Notice the steady drip of PKR MPs to become Perikatan-friendly independent MPs.
When this happens, the rakyat thinks “What on earth is going on?” More importantly, they think PKR is doomed and worse still, the reputation of Pakatam will be dragged into the sewer.
This is not good for the nation or for those of us who still have hope in Pakatan forming the Government.
Act fast before general election
Weeds like Jayakumar, Julau MP Larry Sng and Tebrau MP Steven Choong have dented our faith in PKR, but more importantly the defections will affect Pakatan’s image and chances at GE12.
DAP have started to weed out pro-Perikatan members. Parti Amanah Negara should do the same.
Weeds like Datuk Seri Edmund Santhara Kumar damage PKR’s reputation and like weeds in the soil, take away the nutrients supplied to the soil and damage the main crop. In this case, it’s PKR, because the party will not be able to do its job properly.
Getting rid of the pro-Azmin members, should have been done decades ago, but Anwar being Anwar, is a poor judge of character.
He should have listened to his wife, daughter and Rafizi Ramli. They are alleged to have had serious reservations about Azmin, who of course, is now Muhyiddin’s best buddy.
Over the past year and more recently, there has been a steady drip of PKR politicians leaving the party.
Several PKR members started the Sheraton Move to form the unelected, Perikatan coalition of traitors, frogs and self-serving politicians.
Anwar should be a leader and start culling before he has no party to lead, and before he becomes history.
Whilst weeding, he should remove the deadwood and also groom others to replace him as a leader.
We want people of integrity, not yes-men. We need people with vision, not afraid to begin a new narrative that does not just pander to the Malays.
For argument’s sake, should Anwar cull himself too, in the interest of PKR and the rakyat? – March 15, 2021.
Mariam Mokhtar is a socio-political commentator
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
