The Malaysian Insight

PKR is in danger of breaking up, warned its leaders, claiming the latest sex scandal will cause irreparable damage to the party and see its 20-year struggle come to a bitter end.

The scandal, which has ensnared deputy president and cabinet member Mohamed Azmin Ali, is “dirty politics” at its lowest level, they told The Malaysian Insight.

They said anger among ordinary members is forcing them to go to the ground, to convince the grassroots that the party can be saved.

This is after allegations that some within PKR had a hand in circulating a gay sex video purportedly featuring Azmin, who has blamed an insider for creating and spreading the clips, which were widely distributed to the media and party members last week.

“Do not throw away our 20-year struggle over this,” said the leaders, adding that if left unchecked, the scandal will lead to a major split in the party.

Some members are openly tying the scandal to the rift between Azmin and PKR president Anwar Ibrahim, especially after the two clashed over the party’s handling of the matter.

PKR information chief Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin said he and other top party leaders have been going down to the ground to put out the fires stoked by the scandal.

“We need to explain to members and drive home the point that they should reject such dirty politics.

“We must also stress that in such an atmosphere, no one should be muddying the waters,” said the deputy primary industries minister, whose former aide, Haziq Abdullah Abdul Aziz, has “confessed” to being one of the men in the video and named Azmin as the other.

Azmin has denied all such claims.

Yesterday saw the release of another batch of clips, the third since last week.

Reporters received two clips, with one shared via a YouTube link titled “Azmin love Haziq 3/4”, suggesting a continuation of the previous releases.

The 46-second video, posted yesterday by YouTube user “Rahim Jaafar”, contained no images, and appeared to be an audio recording of two men discussing when to meet up.

The recording was allegedly made at Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur in March.

All the clips thus far have been leaked to the media via social messaging platform WhatsApp.

Former PKR Youth deputy chief Dr Afif Bahardin has pleaded to party members to remain calm and allow the authorities to investigate.

“The grassroots must be rational and calm, and wait for the end of the police investigation. What is most important is that we must stay united.

“We reject whoever plays this type of gutter politics. For 20 years of Reformasi, we fought this type of vile politics, and we cannot be part of that which we have fought against,” said the Seberang Jaya assemblyman.

Ever since it was started in 1999, PKR has had to deal with a series of sexual misconduct allegations levelled against Anwar, who has repeatedly said the claims were trumped up by Umno.

Vice-president Chua Tian Chang, or better known as Tian Chua, has urged party members to remain united and strong in facing what he described as PKR’s latest “test”.

“Our focus should be on governing the country and rebuilding it after decades of damage. PKR is a party that has gone through many trials, and we should not panic and let our party be destroyed.”

Another vice-president, Dr Xavier Jayakumar, echoed Chua’s sentiments, saying party members should not fall for a trap set up by PKR’s political enemies.

“I have asked that all members be united behind the president. We have struggled for 20 years and cannot let it all go to waste over this.

“I’ve always said in meetings, let’s end the factionalism after the party elections. We are one party and one family, so let’s work together.

“We are now in a position where we can use our authority to determine whether the Reformasi we have struggled for can be turned into a reality,” said the water, land and natural resources minister. – June 19, 2019.