Anwar likely to enjoy easy path to PKR presidency
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DESPITE calls from several PKR members for its presidency to be opened for competition, de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim looks set to be given easy passage to assume the top post long occupied by his wife.
PKR has seen no other president than Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, the current deputy prime minister, since the party was founded in 1999, and there is little doubt that anyone would dare challenge Anwar in his bid to replace her.
By becoming PKR president, Anwar will also further cement his claim to becoming prime minister, said party sources.
Wan Azizah has said she will make way for her husband if he decides to run.
Party vice-president Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin said no decision has been made about the presidency, as talks are still ongoing.
“We are still talking about the entire leadership, including the vice-presidents and central committee, not just the presidency,” he told The Malaysian Insight.
Shamsul said even if Anwar won the post uncontested, it did not mean that PKR was the same as Umno in the past.
The former ruling Malay party allowed delegates to vote for the top leader for the first time since 1987.
Shamsul, who is Hang Tuah Jaya MP, said PKR’s party structure gave delegates the power to elect their president.
“They vote for who they want as their leader. If the party’s 800,000 members think that there is no need for a contest, it is also a democracy.”
PKR in several states also voiced support for Anwar, with Terengganu PKR openly saying that his candidacy should go uncontested.
Yusmadi Yusoff, a former PKR central leader, said Anwar has to be made president in the party polls this time because the power transition in Putrajaya must start from PKR.
“A strong party also makes a strong government,” said the former Balik Pulau MP, who also headed the Free Anwar Movement prior to Anwar’s release from jail in May.
Yusmadi said making Anwar president was the democratic duty of all PKR members.
“It is the duty of every reform supporter to ensure we have the best leader to make the reform agenda a success.”
As PKR president, Anwar would have the legitimacy to ensure the reform agenda he started 20 years ago was implemented by the government, the lawyer said.
Pakatan Harapan and Bersatu chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad is the current prime minister. Anwar is the prime minister-in-waiting.
On Sunday, Anwar offered to contest the PKR presidency, a role he could not take on for years because of his previous sodomy convictions and jail time, but is now able to, thanks to the royal pardon he received after PH took over Putrajaya.
For Anwar, taking up the presidency is seen as fulfilling a reformist promise.
Who will dare take on Anwar?
However, there are also some in PKR who believe that no position in the party should be closed to competition, citing the party constitution which allows elections for all leadership positions.
Three days after Anwar’s announcement, PKR’s women wing’s chief Zuraida Kamaruddin said democracy should be upheld in the party by opening up all leadership positions for competition.
“We accept Anwar’s offer to become president openly. But the party needs to be ready to uphold democracy in a new Malaysia,” she said in a statement on Wednesday.
Wong Chen, a member in the PKR central leadership council, said even if the presidency was open to contest, he doubted anyone would dare to challenge Anwar for the post.
“We don’t stop anyone from contesting. There are no orders telling members they cannot contest. PKR is a democratic party.
“I hope there can be one or two challengers because it will make PKR look good. But that depends. Who will dare to do it?”
Nominations for party positions are set for July 29 while the elections in all states are scheduled to begin from September 14 to October 7. – July 19, 2018.