What does Rafizi want PKR to be? By Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy

Malaysiakini : “I’m here (in Sarawak) not to beg for votes; that’s everyone’s right. I’m contesting with the awareness that if I win, it will be the end of the world.”

- Incumbent PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli

COMMENT | What is going on in PKR? Normally, when a party throws out such drama, I tend to believe that the party or its leadership is up to something nefarious, and all this is to distract from mendacious deeds behind the scenes.

PKR incumbent deputy president Rafizi Ramli seems to be doing everything to ensure that his bridges are burnt in parti keluarga (family party).

From claiming the fix is in when it comes to this election for the second highest post, to the various snubbings of party pow wows, and claiming bots are used much like Umno does to amplify messaging in social media, Rafizi is all over the place in painting why the rakyat should not vote for PKR.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim seems to think that everyone will be kumbaya after these elections, which demonstrates that Anwar either does not know how to read a room or that he is delusional in thinking that this circular firing squad, which involves his offspring, is going to make PKR more credible to the rakyat.

Anwar said, “Let us not add to or raise the heat of this election - let’s resolve things amicably, because even if we differ in opinion on certain matters, we cannot deny the tremendous service and contributions made by these individuals.

PKR president Anwar Ibrahim (right) and party incumbent deputy president Rafizi Ramli

“Some of them have sacrificed more and worked harder than us,” – which is a queer thing to say because Rafizi claims Nurul Izzah was revising history when she denied or downplayed his involvement during the 2018 electoral seat negotiations with the old maverick, with Rafizi voluntarily taking on the role as “bad guy”.

MS : It is not so much what Rafizi wants of PKR. It is what Anwar’s PKR does not want. As I wrote in response to PG’s piece, “… PKR is, in spirit if not in form, a Malay party with a strong UMNO DNA,….

As for Rafizi whose innate intelligence and willingness to speak up come what may, made him almost unMalay, this falling out is no surprise. He had always warned against PKR's cultist tendencies, the deification of Dear Leader and the all out pandering to the natives.

That alone was enough to set in motion the machinery to push him out as an undesirable.” "Maybe Rafizi has defined what PKR is or has become, three years ago when he said this - “This whole idea that you bring someone to the top that he becomes a messiah, we have seen this for decades, and that is the reason we are in trouble now.”

Read it all here........