The Power Transition Chronicle
It has been more than two months since the walkout incident at the 2019 PKR National Congress, and the tensions between the two PKR camps have soothed down.
Last December, PKR deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali and his supporters staged a walkout, alleging that insults were hurled at the party’s number two during the speeches at the party congress.
Fast forward to January 2020, Azmin was spotted attending PKR meetings. Previously, PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim claimed that Azmin had been skipping party meetings for months.
Azmin’s staunch supporter, PKR vice-president Zuraida Kamaruddin, had also agreed to attend the party’s disciplinary board hearing on February 25.
The hearing was called for because of her speech during a dinner event, in which she expressed her dissatisfaction with the PKR congress.
Although Azmin’s camp was seen to be “pacified”, PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is not shifting his gear down on his demand during the infighting – to be the eight Malaysian Prime Minister.
According to Anwar, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said to him that he will resign from his position before the next general election on February 13.
Meanwhile, there is also the rumour that 138 MPs have signed statutory declarations, pledging their support for Tun Mahathir to finish his full term as the seventh Malaysian Prime Minister.
Previously, Azmin was rumoured to be Tun Mahathir’s preferred successor as the leader of the nation, widely speculated as the primary reason behind the PKR conflict.
Today, Anwar appeared to be desperate for the premiership as his competitor, Azmin and his supporters have declared a ceasefire.
Regardless, the media did not forget about Anwar’s move since he received his royal pardon after GE-14.
First, the PKR vice-president was heavily mentioned by the media when reporting news about PKR, reminding the public about the attempt of kicking out Azmin from PKR top leadership, by appointing Rafizi to go for the party deputy president position.
Interestingly, Rafizi stopped coming out with political statements publicly since last December, stating that he is quitting politics.
Second, the media also reiterated on Anwar’s rush in returning into politics, mentioning former Port Dickson MP Dr S Streram who vacated his parliamentary seat just for Anwar to contest.
Consequently, Pakatan Harapan (PH) supporters would not be happy with the internal conflict within the coalition because of the power transition issue.
They voted for PH to reform the government, agreed for Tun Mahathir to be the candidate for Prime Minister due to his reputation while Anwar was away in prison.
On other hand, they would want Anwar to be the Prime Minister because of his Reformasi Movement.
But the current situation in Malaysia is not going so well with the high national debt, increasing youth unemployment rate, plummeting palm oil price and etc.
With several pressing issues happening in the country, rushing the power transition should not be PH’s top priority.
Instead, PH should focus on fixing the ongoing issues in the country to regain the voters’ confidence, as the last three by-elections have not been in their favour.