SHAH ALAM, 10 Feb: Pakatan Rakyat needs to choose among its young and energetic leaders the candidate to replace Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as the Opposition Leader.
Political analyst, Dr Maszlee Malik, said that among the best candidates is the Chief Minister of Selangor, Mohamed Azmin Ali, who is also the PKR Deputy President.
He said that this is because Mohamed Azmin’s capability as the Chief Minister shined, in addition to being easily received by many parties compared to other candidates.
“Pakatan has to be prepared to replace old leaders. Anwar is being jailed. Datuk Seri Hadi Awang and Lim Kit Siang also need to be replaced by new faces.
“People who are younger, energetic and are agreeable with each other.
“Azmin has proven his capability as the Chief Minister. He is also the number two person in PKR. Now he should stand out as the number one person.
“If Azmin is chosen, there will not be an issue. Perhaps it can be easily accepted by DAP and PAS. If it is Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, she is not a Member of Parliament.
“If it is Lim Guan Eng, I think that PAS will not agree,” he told Selangor Kini today.
Dr Maszlee also mentioned several names in PAS that may give competition to Mohamed Azmin for the position.
“There are many new faces in PAS such as Dr Mujahid Rawa, Kamaruddin Jaafar, Khalid Samad and so on, but they do not stand out like Azmin.
“What more, how much internal support can they receive from PAS alone,” said the lecturer from the International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM).
He said that Pakatan needs to look forward by preparing a line-up of new leaders that are young and energetic to face the 14th General Election.
NS
