The Malaysian Insight

SIX months after a tumultuous and disruptive party elections, PKR’s youth wing continues to be plagued by disunity with proxy wars coming to the fore every now and then, said party sources.

The latest incident to show that all is not well in the youth wing and in the party itself was when PKR president Anwar Ibrahim warned certain youth leaders over a lavish breaking of fast hosted by the wing.

Anwar apologised for the event which featured songs and fireworks and likened to a carnival.

The event was organised by the PKR deputy youth chief Hilman Idham from the Azmin Ali camp. The youth wing is headed by Akmal Nasir, an ally of Rafizi Ramli.

Divisions came to the fore during party elections when Rafizi challenged Azmin for the deputy president’s post.

Their respective supporters faced each other at every level of the party polls. Rafizi supposedly has Anwar’s backing.

Azmin retained the deputy president’s post after a close fight while many in his team made it to the party’s leadership positions.

However, in the youth wing, Rafizi’s man Akmal managed to defeat Azmin ally Dr Afif Bahardin by fewer than 100 votes.

Akmal then appointed those affiliated with him and Rafizi to the youth line-up, leaving Hilman as the sole Azmin voice in the wing.

Youth leaders told The Malaysian Insight that Hilman continues to play the lone wolf by working on his own.

“He wants to break up the youth wing. He refuses to move on after the elections. He uses his position as the deputy youth chief to run his programmes and sidestep Akmal.

“He has not shown his commitment to attend our meetings and will only drop in right at the end,” said a youth leader who refused to be identified.

Another youth leader echoed this, saying that Hilman liked to act on his own without checking with the youth leadership.

“Even the recent buka puasa programme was his work. He organised it in his own capacity and it was not the youth wing’s programme.

“It is true that the youth members were invited but it was not our programme,” he said.

Anwar’s public scolding over the event did not go down well with some PKR youth leaders.

“The president should have investigated the matter first before openly slamming us. That was unfair.

“I was at the event and it was not like a carnival,” said another youth leader aligned to Hilman.

Meanwhile, Hilman said there was a miscommunication over the event, adding that Anwar did not receive a clear picture of the event.

“I choose to believe that the president did not get comprehensive and accurate information.

“We take note of his reprimand but we are confident that the programme was held based on Islamic tradition and culture,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

The Gombak Setia assemblyman said the Sunday programme featured a preacher who delivered a sermon and held prayers.

He also denied talks he was trying to divide the wing, adding that he was merely trying to strengthen the movement at the grassroots level.

“The programmes are done by me as the lawfully elected deputy head of the youth wing. In fact, the total number of votes I received was more than what Akmal got.

“So my reminder to everyone is not to find fault with others who are doing the job for the youth wing.”

The Malaysian Insight also learned that there have been several defections from Akmal’s camp to Hilman’s side in the past few months.

“We want to see more programmes and we see Hilman being more active and closer with the grassroots. Hilman also helps the grassroots. What does Akmal do?” asked one such defector.

“Akmal needs to hit the ground to meet members and not just organise top-level events. He needs to know what is happening at the grassroots,” said another youth member. – May 28, 2019.