The Malaysian Insight

PKR women’s annual congress is set to take place a day earlier than the youth wing’s meeting to avoid conflict as both will be launched by different leaders.

Traditionally, the two wings will have their meetings jointly launched by the party deputy president.

This year, however, the youth wing has snubbed deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali, instead invited former president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail to launch its congress on December 6 in Malacca.

Meanwhile, the women’s wing, sticking to tradition and wanting to avoid exacerbating splits in the party, has invited Azmin to launch its meeting on December 5.

“The women’s wing does not want to cause more problems. The situation is already tense as the youth wing has moved away from tradition.

“To solve the problem, the women’s wing has decided to have a separate opening gambit,” a source told The Malaysian Insight.

Another source said the women’s wing respects the tradition the party has adhered to for the past 20 years.

“We respect the deputy president, whoever it is, and will invite him or her to launch our congress,” said the source.

Earlier this week, PKR women’s chief Haniza Talha was reported as saying her wing wished to continue the tradition so to unite all parties.

“This is the time for us to unite,” she said, adding that an invitation would be issued to Azmin as usual.

A youth wing source confirmed there will be separate openings.

“The youth wing wants to acknowledge Dr Wan Azizah’s sacrifice and leadership as the past president. She is also the deputy prime minister.”

Reacting to the snub by the youth wing, Azmin had said unseen hands were involved in blocking him from launching the congress.

It retorted by saying Azmin only had himself to blame for not replying to the invitation.

The fallout from the decision to reject Azmin resulted in Sarawak PKR cancelling its own annual congress due on November 23 in support of the deputy president.

Sarawak PKR chairman Baru Bian said the crisis will escalate if party leadership fails to handle the issue urgently.

The party is split between president Anwar Ibrahim and Azmin. – November 16, 2019.