SHAH ALAM, 19 Oct: The Chief Minister of Selangor, Mohamed Azmin Ali, as the Deputy President of PKR, must think of the future of PKR if the PKR de facto leader, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, is faced with a prison sentence.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs IDEAS), Wan Saiful Wan Jan, the party needed to be prepared, both mentally and physically, for an unfavourable verdict by focusing on grooming new party leadership.
“Not only do they need to continue the fight, PKR should also intensify their efforts to bring in more recruits and mould future leaders for the party,” he said, taken from The Malaysian Insider.
Anwar will face the Federal Court on October 28 and 29 for its decision against the Court of Appeal’s ruling that overturned his earlier sodomy acquittal. The offence carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and will effectively end the 67-year-old’s political career if the apex court upholds his conviction.
Touching on the ties between party members in Pakatan; DAP and PAS, Wan Saiful said that the burden of keeping everything together is Azmin Ali’s to bear.
“PKR’s future will depend on him. He will have to become a leader not just for PKR but also Pakatan,” he said,” he said.
Wan Saiful added that this is because of Azmin’s good relationship with PAS and DAP’s support in the height of the Selangor Chief Minister crisis.
However, Wan Saiful said that Azmin may need a different style and approach.
“He needs to be more approachable because many people have this impression that he is hard to get close to and inflexible.
“If he can improve this, he may have an enlarged role not only in PKR, but in Pakatan,” he said.
NS
