KUALA LUMPUR: IT is often said that vomiting when one is sick will make the person feel better. The reasoning is simple: let out the bad stuff to feel healthy again.
A similar approach is usually adopted in businesses and, of course, in politics too.
To date, there have been four terminations involving PKR leaders and members. This has led to rumblings in the party.
The same question keeps propping up: “Why now when the PKR National Congress is only days away?”
Why indeed? The obvious explanation almost everyone came up with was that PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is getting rid of his deputy, Datuk Seri Azmin Ali’s so-called “defenders”.
In Anwar’s eyes, they could be the “bad apples” of PKR — rotten fruits exude stench and lure all kinds of pests.
Political analyst Dr Awang Azman Awang Pawi believed it was a last-minute, yet calculated strategy on Anwar’s part.
“Anwar has kept quiet long enough that now he feels the need to be firm and bold. Azmin has been absent from so many party meetings (presumably in protest), so of course the party president will get offended at some point,” he told the New Straits Times.
The party’s national congress will be held from Dec 6 to 8 and so far, four party leaders and members have been axed. The first was PKR Bera division chief Zakaria Abd Hamid and Pahang member Ismail Dulhadi, who were sacked following allegations of abuse of power and bribery.
It was said that the duo were in Azmin’s camp and that Zakaria was instrumental in helping the Gombak lawmaker getting all the support he needed in last year’s party polls.
Apparently, Zakaria was so good that he managed to “convert” some of Anwar’s guys into Azmin’s team and this did not sit well with the prime minister aspirant.
Both Zakaria and Ismail have not been formally charged in court or their alleged wrongdoings proven by anyone and yet, they were booted out.
Then comes the second round of sacking involving PKR Youth permanent chairman Muhamad Mizan Adli Mohd Nor and his deputy Mohd Ramly Ahmad.
The reasons given were:
One, they were above the age of 35, so they are not suitable for the Youth wing anymore although, in their defence, they were elected when they were 35.
The second reason was that during the 2018 party election, Mizan and Ramly had received more votes compared to the number of delegates present on that day.
Of the 270 delegates allowed to vote, Mizan and Ramly received 400 and 397 votes, respectively.
If this was really the case, both men should not have enjoyed their positions for a year. A recount should have been done on the polling day itself.
Somehow, it took the party leadership one year to figure this out and finally make the decision to get rid of them just one week away from the national congress.
Can we expect more sackings in the next few days?
Awang Azman did not dismiss that possibility.
He said Anwar had waited too long to let Azmin, who was also his former personal secretary, take over the party he founded.
“If Anwar doesn’t do anything, the grassroots will see him as weak, so, this is Anwar trying to even the score, after Azmin refused to attend party meetings and his continuous verbal attacks on Anwar in the media.”
Revenge, while sweet, could also lead to severe consequences. Continuous bickering between the two top leaders would further divide the already nervous party members, especially at the grassroots level and among its youths.
It is time Anwar and Azmin ask themselves: Is this infighting worth it? They have come a long way since the Reformasi days just to throw it all away for the very thing they previously despised: politicians obsessed with positions.