JOHOR BAHRU – As the dust settled on Parti Keadilan Rakyat’s (PKR) leadership contest, calls have grown louder for Malaysia’s ruling party to begin healing the wounds left by a bitter campaign.
The vote on May 23 saw Economy Minister and incumbent Rafizi Ramli defeated by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s daughter Nurul Izzah Anwar for the deputy presidency.
Some of the victors in the divisional elections, which were marred by allegations of vote-rigging in April, have extended olive branches to the runners-up aligned with Datuk Seri Rafizi. PKR anchors Malaysia’s multi-coalition government that has been in power for 2½ years, with eight Cabinet ministers including Datuk Seri Anwar, who is also Finance Minister.
Mr Anwar’s faction enjoyed a landslide victory at the election, including in the youth and women wings, reversing losses from 2022. His eldest daughter, Ms Nurul Izzah, polled 72 per cent of the 13,669 votes against Mr Rafizi. Others allied with the Premier took more than four-fifths of other contested leadership positions.
During the closing of the party’s national congress on May 24, Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, speaking in his capacity as chief secretary for the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition, which PKR leads, recalled the moment the election results were announced.
“While others were celebrating the victory, I chose to accompany Mr Rafizi as he stepped down from the stage.
“I walked him to his car. We embraced, exchanged greetings and asked for forgiveness. I must honestly admit I feared losing him from our party,” the emotional former PKR secretary-general told delegates on May 24.
Calling the 47-year-old Mr Rafizi his “little brother”, Datuk Seri Saifuddin, who is 61, said he had known him for two decades and was the one who introduced him to the party president, Mr Anwar because he was “the best among my friends”. Mr Rafizi did not attend the closing ceremony of the PKR annual meeting, which was held at the Persada Johor International Convention Centre in Johor Bahru.
Mr Rafizi is widely credited with providing PKR and PH the strategic impetus that laid the foundations of their victorious campaigns in 2018 and 2022.
Mr Anwar has a heavy responsibility to “heal the severe wounds” caused by the party election and to “persuade” the runners-up to return and work together as a team, Mr Saifuddin added, expressing hope that Mr Rafizi will continue to play a role in the party.
The delegates gave Mr Saifuddin a standing ovation at the end of his speech.
In his winding-up speech, Mr Anwar expressed appreciation for Mr Rafizi and Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad – who also failed to defend his vice-presidency – for “contributing to PKR for a long time”.
He told his party that to avoid internal schisms, “the issue is not just to support the president, but the party cannot be managed without a spirit of love, confidence and absolute trust between each other”.
However, Mr Rafizi hinted that he may quit his Cabinet position and “return to living a private life, away from the shenanigans of the corridors of power” in a Facebook posting on May 24.
His ally, Mr Nik Nazmi, is also expected to resign “as early as next week”, a top source from the Rafizi camp told The Straits Times. Queries have been sent to both ministers’ aides.
Comedian Afdlin Shauki Aksan, who defeated Mr Nik Nazmi as Setiawangsa division chief in Kuala Lumpur, also vowed support for the latter during the debate on the president’s policy speech.
“I want to tell Nik Nazmi, as a new division chief, I am at your service. We will be there should you need us as we are PKR,” Datuk Afdlin, 54, told the delegates, to thunderous applause.
Perak PKR delegate Baldip Singh Santokh Singh also urged all factions to be united after the election.
“I contested as central committee member, not in Mr Rafizi’s menu nor Ms Nurul Izzah’s menu. Do I sulk? No. Unity agenda is above all in the party,” he said during the debate.
Dr Phoon Wing Keong, head of the Huayan Policy Institute, suggested that Mr Rafizi may use time away from government to strategise his next move.
“But other leaders in his faction may adopt a wait-and-see approach (about whether they will quit), which will test Mr Anwar’s leadership and ability to heal the party,” he told ST.
- Shannon Teoh is The Straits Times’ bureau chief for Malaysia, where he has reported on various beats since 1998.
- Lu Wei Hoong is Malaysia correspondent at The Straits Times, specialising in transport and politics.
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