and not shyly he announces he would go back, like Oliver, formore. And aMore!:) - Desi
Saturday, June 26, 2010
PKR faces many enemies and its Selangor chief faces a Brutus?
YL Chong, Malaysia Chronicle
In politics, arrows shot by the enemy contain poison, but are expected and can be countered by preventive firing of the first bullets. It’s the enemy from within that any party has to be most watchful, and Parti Keadilan Rakyat can easily sing this clichéd woe. With such friends like departed MPs Zulkifli Noordin and Wee Choo Keong, my citation as examples, who needs enemies?
If one were to believe the mainstream media like the NST and The Star, one would think the Selangor Menteri Besar is truly under near-fatal siege from within, and the Brutus-in-brewing is PKR vice-president Azmin Ali, who resigned as PKNS director last Wednesday.
The NST report yesterday headlined it as “Shah Alam showdown”, citing party insiders as saying that “15 PKR MPs (are) seeking to oust Selangor MB”. Incidentally, being both an MP, and state assemblyman for Bukit Antarabangsa, Azmin is hence the obvious replacement to take over the chief ministership of the most developed state in the country should Khalid be indeed overthrown by an internal coup. In that case, Azmin would then be deemed to be motivated chiefly by self-interest, but I think his ambitions reach out to farther horizons encompassing even the Prime Minister’s throne, not a mere state honcho vista.
The Star reported, quoting an unnamed MP, as saying that “the MPs were also unhappy with Khalid’s inability to make quick decisions, which they felt could threaten Pakatan Rakyat’s position in Selangor.
Khalid’s decision to appoint Faekah Hussin to replace his previous political secretary Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad without first consulting the party’s political bureau and other leaders was the last straw for the group.”
This was scoffed at – the last straw reference by The Star – by PKR insiders, who admit that the party would continue to see differences among the ranks, but this is because the party has opened up public discourse and won’t go the way of Barisan Nasional’s big brother in dictating to its siblings, whether at federal or state levels.
A reliable source told the Malaysia Chronicle that he definitely knows there is no “plot” as far as top leaders in PKR are concerned. He admitted there are indeed “moles” who had penetrated the party to create instability and havoc, helped along by the mainstream media spin that always exaggerates any internal strife within any PR party, be it DAP, PAS or PKR.
He stressed that Khalid as MB had always given encouragement and opportunities to newer, especially the younger members, to serve in key positions within the State administration, and the process of “talent-hunting” would be stepped up.
Party sources said that Seri Setia assemblyman Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad’s move to PKR headquarters as Communications chief (to replace Jonson Chong) – and the subsequent appointment of Faekah, a party loyalist, as Nik Nazmi’s successor was precisely one of several impending changes taken by the party to improve overall performance. It is the appointment of “outsiders” – including froggie MPs like Wee Choo Keong, ex-MDP, and Tan Chee Beng, ex-Gerakan, as PR candidates in March 2008 – that PKR has now learnt to beware as potential moles wreaking havoc from within.
My take is that Khalid will not allow himself to be pushed into a corner and be stabbed in the back – as fatally as did best friend Brutus plunge his ‘most unkindest cut of all” into Julius Caesar’s chest eon years ago at Da Capitol in Rome, an episode yet so relevantly fresh in any creative and politically-informed writer’s mind.
De-facto party chief Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (DSAI) is going to be the decision-maker at all important crossroads that the party reaches. The takeover of the federal government depends on the remaining two to three years on how PKR-led Selangor government performs, and Anwar will not allow recalcitrants to derail the Putrajaya horizon now already within the PR’s sight.
Yes, so soon after an open endorsement of Khalid’s performance as MB at the recent PKR Congress in Kota Baru, DSAI is not going to allow 15 parliamentarians, headed by MP for Teluk Kemag Kamarul Bahrin Abbas, to cross the line in what is essentially a State affair, although the ramifications will impact on Pakartan’s road mapping to Putrajaya come the next general elections.
A point to note is that DSAI and Kamarul were roommates at Malay College Kuala Kangsar. Kamarul had joined his ally from schooldays and UMNO, dismissing the talk about Anwar’s sodomy offences as ‘all nonsense”. Knowing the gentleman that Kamarul is, it’s quite unlikely he would be involved in a plot - playing a minor Brutus’ role to the bigger, more ambitious Azmin.
So this begs the question: Would then Azmin turn out to be the real Brutus? My reading is “No”, because DSAI has given his endorsement to Khalid’s leadership last month at the party congress, observing that Khalid is a sincere leader, committed in bringing reform, transparency in his administration, though the party leader did acknowledge that sometimes, there were some quarters unhappy with the MB for moving too slowly on certain matters. So Azmin, well referred to as an Anwar’s protégé, wouldn’t make any move that could antagonize his boss, would he?
The next million-dollar question and it could be quite literally. Is Khalid Ibrahim caught in a similar bind in that some of these “so-called’ – I use a better word “professed” for these who come from a higher-end market - party supporters had sought special favours from MB Khalid but in vain? Favours I heard on the media grapevine like fast-tracking approval for projects,or appointments to lucrative positions to state-owned GLCs as was the rumoured case of former party secretary-general Sallehuddin Hashim?
So among the professed “coup” parliamentarians is Kapar MP S Manickavasagam, who I recall complained that Khalid as MB did not assist him with funds to serve his constituents better; even had the gall to publicly convey the image that the state chief executive officer should find the time for him instead of realizing that the MB’s focus is to the State administration and the Rakyat of Selangor. Of all the pack, he’s the next likely BN-wooed froggie; his antics from the early days were just to up his market value. But forget about anywhere near ex-DAP’s Hee Yit Fong’s RM24million, Manicka! Would you settle for 24Rupiah and stop all these shenanigans and concentrate on building up the alternative federal government instead?
Another key point I will recall here is, to jog Malaysia Chronicle readers’ minds, that it was just a few months ago that DSAI felt he should beef up Khalid’s state administration by accepting the position of Economic Adviser. It is unlikely Anwar would abandon his state CEO for that would mean his decision to move in as Economic Adviser” did not achieve any fruit. So the likelihood as painted by the NST report which insinuated that Azmin indeed gave apparent support to the other rebelling MPs’ “plot” to sack Khalid as MB of Selangor was just a media figment of imagination is more probable than the eventual downfall, prematurely, of Khalid.
My conclusion is that to the slate of minor Brutuses who jumped ship from Pakatan Rakyat component parties, especially from PKR, this writer can only reprise the succinct rebuttal of many fellow Malaysians: Good riddance to bad rubbish!
(This exclusive commentary is by YL Chong, who is a columnist for Malaysia Chronicle. He also blogs at http://www.desiderata2000.blogspot.com/)
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