Though he’s pledged loyalty in order to Anwar, Rafizi offers vowed to speak his mind and become critical of the celebration. But the dust is far from settled.
There are complaints to the Registrar of Societies of selection fraud, and to state the results void. The particular Registrar of Societies received 1, 800 complaints from the PKR grassroots, including through vice-president candidate Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak.
In spite of all the excitement about PKR fronting a new face other than Anwar, the party must shed the image of a personalistic party. Rafizi alone cannot change the tables in PKR’s favour. It has to stand company on upholding multiracialism, apart from its various other reform ideals such as anti-corruption, anti-nepotism, strong and clean organizations, and free and fair elections.
It must not be tempted by pragmatic politics to recapture Putrajaya. In 2018, it suspended its ideals by joining forces with Mahathir, the man that had triggered the particular “reformasi” movement in 1998.
However the crux of the matter is not about Mahathir reconciling with Anwar, which was key to the formation of PH and the 2018 political election victory, but PKR supporting Mahathir’s Malay dominance agenda and playing second fiddle to Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (United Malaysian Indigenous Party).
By style, PH in 2018 was no different from BN, in that PKR was a junior celebration in a grand Malay-led multiracial coalition. It must not repeat this older playbook as it is at this point the de facto leader of the resistance.
If it really wants to go strong upon its multiracialism remain, it has to do more to attract non-Malays into the leadership rates. The recent PKR polls inducted 8 non-Malays into the 20-member Council. This should become applauded.
The next step is to address the thornier question of how various PKR is from its ally, the Democratic Action Party (DAP). Like PKR, the particular DAP is also the multiracial party, yet Chinese-led. Should the two multiracial parties mix?
This is not an issue for Anwar or even Rafizi to resolve by itself. Rather, it is regarding PKR and its multiracial allies in PH to decide.
Norshahril Saat can be Senior Fellow at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute and Coordinator at the Local Social and Cultural Studies Programme. This particular commentary first appeared on the Institute’s weblog, Fulcrum.