Polls only to strenghten Anwar's grip

Wednesday, 24 November 2010 18:16
KUALA LUMPUR - The Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) central leadership polls which concluded last Sunday are just an arena to strengthen the power of party advisor Anwar Ibrahim and his cronies, said Anuar Shaari, former private secretary to the opposition leader. He said the easy access for PKR vice-president Mohamed Azmin Ali to win the deputy president's post had been anticipated since the polls started on Oct 29. "The overall direction of PKR has been planned by Anwar, who wants all members to obey to his wishes to see Azmin and his (Anwar's) daughter Nurul Izzah win the contest. "From my point of view, this is what Anwar wants and he has been driving the PKR with a personal interest to prolong his political life, using the party for his sodomy case by organising demonstrations and putting pressure on the government, while having no clear direction as to where the party should go," he told Bernama Wednesday. Anuar was commenting on the PKR top leadership polls which saw Mohamed Azmin, who is Gombak Member of Parliament, win the contest for deputy president, a post vacated by Dr Syed Husin Ali. The mother of Nurul Izzah, who won a post of vice-president with the highest number of votes, is Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who won the president's post uncontested. Anuar said it was not surprising that many PKR leaders quit the party after finding out that they were not fighting for the same goal with the top leadership anymore. "We can see that those who quit the party are mostly those who could not accept the party's ideology. Only after joining the party will they realise that the party's struggle is more of a personality struggle and at the end of the day, their fight for the party would mean nothing," he said. Commenting on Azmin's recent statement that something should be done to wipe out traitors in PKR, Anuar described it as a warning for the future challengers. "For Azmin, traitors are those who do not obey them (Azmin and Anwar), and not the party. If the members do not support the two of them, then these members become traitors for Azmin," he said. Anuar also described the decision by former Federal Territory PKR chairman Zaid Ibrahim to quit the party as apt. He said he saw Zaid as an honest politician who believed in his struggle. Meanwhile, former PKR Youth chief Senator Ezam Mohd Nor, said he left PKR in 2006 after anticipating that there would be Anwar's intervention to ensure victory of his chosen candidates. He said PKR was no longer a party which fought for the rights of the people as was the initial objective for its establishment. It has now become the party to fulfil personal agendas and a place to solve personal problems of a leader, Ezam said. "The much talked about 'struggle of the people' is merely a mask. Once, I was just anticipating (that PKR is a personal party), but now, it is crystal clear, and it does not provide any opportunities for the people. "All those things said by Datuk Zaid and others who have quit the party, about the existence of the elements of manipulation and intervention to determine the party leadership Anwar believed in, are true," he said. Ezam said he also believed that Zaid, a former candidate for the vice-president's post and former minister in the Prime Minister's Department, was not someone who was greedy for power to the extent of quitting the party just because he did not get enough support during the party polls. "For me, Zaid is not that kind of a person. He joins a party not because of the post or power. If we look at his history, he was once a minister, and he was not fired, but he resigned. "Not everybody can do what he did, especially Anwar. Anwar never left a position vacant. He will stay put until he is fired (like when he was deputy prime minister)," he added. - Bernama