The Malaysian Insight

THOUGH annoyed at having to endure yet another smear campaign, PKR members said they are largely unfazed about the latest attempt to bring the party down.

In interviews with 10 activists from Terengganu to Kuala Lumpur, Perak and Sarawak, they said the latest allegation against one of PKR’s top stars, Mohamed Azmin Ali, is uniting rather than splitting the party.

Most of the 10 have been with the party for almost a decade and remember having to go through president Anwar Ibrahim’s second sodomy trial.

Half of them have been with PKR since its inception in 1999 and dealt with the first trial.

“I went through all those difficult times with my comrades but they did not stop us from pursuing justice,” said Voon Shiak Ni, a Wanita leader from Sarawak.

A majority of those interviewed said they suspected Umno of being behind the latest episode.

The party’s traditional nemesis has always favoured manufacturing filth over debating policies, they said.

“They can’t find weaknesses in our integrity or policies, so they rely on sex and sensationalism,” said Penang grassroots leader Amir Ghazali on the scandal sparked by the dissemination of clips showing two men in an intimate situation.

The clips’ creators have said one of the men is Haziq Abdullah Abdul Aziz, a private secretary to a deputy minister, while the other is Economic Affairs Minister Azmin.

Azmin has denied the claims and police reports have been lodged over the matter. Haziq was yesterday suspended from his ministry position. 

Sarawak PKR grassroots leader Desmond Kho does not believe the man claiming to be Haziq is telling the truth or that the clips are authentic – a sentiment that political analysts said is common in the age of digital media, where fakes abound.

“I don’t believe the allegations and I don’t care (about the clips). There are bigger issues for me to worry about, such as the economy, our education system and national unity,” said Kho, who is from the Stampin division.

Return of gutter politics

Compared with its three other partners in Pakatan Harapan, PKR has been embroiled in an almost endless series of sex scandals, starting with Anwar when he was convicted and jailed for sodomy in 1999.

Ten years later, he was again investigated and convicted of having an affair with former aide Saiful Bukhari Azlan.

Anwar has maintained that Umno was behind both incidents. He received a royal pardon for the second conviction last June.

Between those years, a group of businessmen attempted to convince the public that they caught Anwar on video with a foreign woman, which he denied.

Many of the younger PKR members The Malaysian Insight interviewed said they do not believe the allegations against Azmin.

“The pictures prove that it’s not Azmin. But this is what politics is like,” said Mohd Firdaus Radzi, an activist with the Lembah Pantai division.

Mohd Afil Gaos, also from Lembah Pantai, praised the PKR deputy president for being close to the grassroots.

“I’ve been with the party for about 18 years until they formed the government. I don’t believe any of this. But this is normal in politics. We don’t want to make enemies but they want to bring us down.”

Zack, an activist from the Pandan division, and Mohd Al Iman Zakaria, from Putrajaya, said they believe the sex clips are a ploy to destroy Azmin.

“There are probably people who feel threatened by Azmin,” said Al Iman, adding that he is disappointed such gutter politics is making a comeback in the “New Malaysia”.

Bringing PKR together

The allegations against Azmin come at a particularly tense time for PKR, which is embroiled in a struggle between two factions – one loyal to the party No. 2, and the other to Anwar.

However, those interviewed refused to entertain the idea that the clips are the work of someone in the party or related to the Anwar-Azmin rivalry.

They would rather believe that it is the work of outsiders looking to tear PKR apart.

“People in the party don’t have the capability to do something like this. It looks more like another Umno plot,” said Abdul Rahman Yusof, a veteran activist from Dungun.

“The guy accusing us does not look like a stable person. He’s been hopping from party to party, so he could have been manipulated,” he said of Haziq, who was an Umno member before joining PKR.

Alfaizal Amjed, from the Terengganu chapter, said instead of dividing the party further, the scandal has brought PKR closer.

“The support for Azmin has been pouring in non-stop. Azmin’s tweets, after the scandal broke, are getting thousands of ‘likes’.”

A veteran activist from Perak, Zulkifli Ibrahim, said he believes the public will reject such dirty politics.

“Our enemies can try all they want to bring the old style of politics back. But at the end of the day, I think this type of politics will be rejected in the ‘New Malaysia’,” said the Kuala Kangsar division member. – June 14, 2019.