The Malaysian Insight

AZMIN Ali is staying put as PKR deputy president but his future in the party will largely depend on whether he makes it into Anwar Ibrahim’s cabinet, when the latter takes over from Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Azmin has been missing from party events, the latest and most notable at the Port Dickson retreat held over the weekend. He has also been scarce at the just-concluded mid-year meeting of parliament last week.

This has spurred rumours that the Gombak MP may be gradually on the way out in the party he’s helped build since 1999.

Sources in Azmin’s camp said the absence from the spotlight at party events is only temporary. The economic affairs minister will still perform his government duties.  

In 2014, Azmin also laid low after a failed attempt to replace Khalid Ibrahim as Selangor menteri besar.  

This time is more serious as Azmin has openly feuded with Anwar, who according to PKR veterans, enjoys near universal support in the party from ordinary members to the senior leadership.

Azmin is keeping his head low in order to cool things down and not snipe with Anwar, said sources close to him.

This is after a series of terse exchanges in the media between the two over the sex video controversy with former Sarawak PKR activist Haziq Abdullah Abdul Aziz.  

Haziq said he and Azmin were the two men in the video but the latter has repeatedly denied this. Police have also said the identities of those in the video can’t be determined.

His position in the party is secure for now as the party has officially announced that they will not act against Azmin unless the police confirm that it is him in the video.

PKR sources said Azmin still enjoys wide support within the party, especially among PKR’s division heads.

In the 2018 party elections, Azmin garnered 51.03% out of about 141,000 votes to retain his post against challenger Rafizi Ramli.

“But many division chiefs who once publicly supported Azmin have gone silent after police said that the video was authentic. They are adopting a wait-and-see attitude and believe that it is better to remain silent,” said a party source.   

Another official said Azmin will remain in his post and in the party even though his image has taken a beating in recent days.

Breaking up  

A one-time aide and right-hand man of Anwar himself, Azmin has had a spectacular falling out with the man he has worked with for more than three decades ever since they were in Umno.   

The seeds of their break-up were planted when Azmin attempted to challenge’s Anwar wife, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, for the party presidency in 2014.  

Azmin backed out of the contest when Anwar himself announced that he was running for president. At the time, Anwar was PKR de facto chief (ketua umum) – an unelected post created just for him.

Relations between the two have gradually disintegrated since then and the party has divided into pro-Anwar and pro-Azmin factions.

The fiercely contested party elections last year were war between these two factions.

“(Azmin’s) future in the party will hinge on whether he is retained in Anwar’s cabinet. That will then affect his chances in the next party elections (scheduled for 2020).”    

According to an accord between the Pakatan Harapan parties, Anwar is slated to take over from Dr Mahathir after the ruling coalition completes its first two years in power.

Dr Mahathir himself has repeatedly said he will fulfil this promise to Anwar, which had been a condition for PH to accept Dr Mahathir as their candidate for prime minister in the run-up to the 14th general election.   

The current rift between Anwar and Azmin has made it difficult to predict now whether the prime-minister-designate will retain Azmin.

“The word going around now is that Anwar will want his own people in the cabinet,” said another party source.

Officially, however, Anwar has said that he will continue to work together as a team with his deputy. – July 22, 2019.