The following is likely to be described as biased. That’s ok :)
I have tried to present it as an alternative to some of what is being written in the mainstream press about PKR. I won’t go so far as to say it’s “insider insight” – too new for that. But hopefully, it’s passable as alternate views from someone who’s spent some time looking at these things.
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The party’s major weakness the last few years has been the lack of leadership.
That hasn’t been my experience at all. If I weren’t impressed by the calibre of the PKR leadership, I wouldn’t subject myself to them. Us snotty harvard grads don’t impress that easily you know? :P :P :)
I’d love to play a part in strengthening the party infrastructure and its internal communications, etc, but in terms of individuals, I’m more than sufficiently inspired by the dedication and vision of those currently leading PKR.
Don’t reckon so? Let me introduce you to some of them sometime :)
Still, the merger with Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) has not brought about any fantastic benefits.
Nonsense. Many of the leaders I was refering to are the best things PRM has brought to the party. Sivarasa, Lat Koya, etc..
It is amazing how Dr Wan Azizah has remained so well-liked despite doing so poorly as party president.
Of late, she is spending such long hours praying at night that she sometimes nods off at meetings in the day.
?!?! I beg your pardon?? Eli Wong – one of Kak Wan’s PA’s – rightfully threw a proper fit on reading this. I strongly encourage you to read her account on just how hard the party president works.
I daresay that firsthand experience is more credible than Ms. Tan’s. When, after all, would she have had the opportunity to observe Kak Wan doze of at a meeting – or see her praying at night? A journalist of her standing should no better than to print something like that based on hearsay. Not cool.
Altho.. the fact that reading that excerpt probably made most people think of the guy that’s really doing all the nodding off these days. Some of those collected pictures are really, really funny :)
At opposition ceramah, he has been whetting the crowd’s curiosity with outlandish and sensational theories of the Altantuya Shaaribu, the murdered Mongolian woman case.
‘Outlandish and sensational’ is when something is new or believed by only a few. There was a time when PKR people were the ones coming up with a O & S theory on the murder, but I’m afraid those theories have become both widely publicised and widely accepted explanations – not because they’re sensationalist, but because they fill in a lot of gaps left by other possible explanations.
Anyway, it’s still early in this affair. Let’s see how far much of a challenge DS Abdullah will be facing within Umno.
“(Azmin Ali) has great personal loyalty to Anwar but he is also efficient, meticulous and a good organiser,” said his old friend and former PKR information chief Khalid Jaafar.
I’m the last person to comment on internal politicking, but I do know that even people who take some exception to Azmin admit these qualities about him.
Ezam, strategic to the core, is said to have pushed hard for this in the months before falling out of favour and quitting his party posts recently.
My understanding is that Ezam’s decision was unilateral in nature, and not due to any fallout. I’ve heard nothing to suggest otherwise. I have heard though, that he is indeed strategic to the core.
Besides, there has always been this niggling thought among those in the party that he still had an eye on returning to Umno.
His willingness to be the party president shows his commitment to the party because, as they like to say in PKR, Anwar is bigger than the party.
Ah, and this is the clincher of course.
I’ve never heard anyone ever utter the words “Anwar is bigger than the party.” I’m sure some people think so, but I’ve never been of that ideological persuasion.
And won’t they ever get tired of this whole returning to Umno thing? I suspect it (sadly) won’t be the last time I write this here, but won’t Anwar’s political career be totally shot to hell if he renounces all that he’s been advocating to return to the BN fold?
As in any other party, people are in PKR for different reasons. Some more because they believe in Anwar, some becaue they believe in the party’s ideals, and most probably some combination of the two.
Having had a taste for the party and the people within, I wouldn’t say that its dreams rest on any one person.
Few expect the party to do well but hope, as they say, beats eternal in the breast of men.
And women. And count me amongst the few that expect the party to do well :)
This is also why I think PKR will survive longer than people speculate. KeADILan has become the party of choice for people making a serious bid for multi-ethnic, corruption-free politics in Malaysia. Their commitment to this cause will outlive any change of personalities or electoral hardships – precisely because hope springs eternal.
I don’t recommend politics to those without hope. It just isn’t worth it otherwise.
I do find the article by Joceline Tan somewhat encouraging; not because of what she wrote but because the party has developed to such a point that such an op-ed had to be written. This seems to imply that the party is finally being perceived as a credible enough threat to the polity to the point that the MCA owned Star is forced to do some blackballing.
I wouldn’t have stayed in the party for so long if it wasn’t for the fact that I do have hope in the possibility of an authentic non-ethnic reality in our nation’s politics.