JUNE 4- As Pakatan Rakyat prepares a legal challenge against some of the results of the recent general election, there is a feeling at the grassroots that the pact’s top leaders should accept some blame for Barisan Nasional’s continued control of Putrajaya.
In interviews with FMT, PKR figures at state and divisional levels said the top leaders of the three parties in the pact all made some blunders, but they reserved their harshest criticism for their own leaders, specifically party supremo Anwar Ibrahim and deputy president Azmin Ali.
Most of these informants were candidates in the election. Some of them won and some lost, but all of them said it would have been futile for them, as lower-rung leaders, to point out to the top leadership the errors they were making in preparing for the election.
They said the main reason PKR lost many promising seats, including those it won in 2008, was that the process of choosing candidates was dominated by Anwar and Azmin. Azmin chaired the party’s election committee, which had final say in the choice of candidates.
As a result, they added, the candidates they recommended were dropped in favour of the two leaders’ cronies.
“They even overruled the party president,” said one source.
“It’s okay if a candidate proposed by a division is rejected because he has some bad record or has never worked in the constituency identified for him.
“But many of the rejected candidates were clean and had worked tirelessly for the party. They had brought in new members and done all the other things that an aspiring candidate should do. Furthermore, they were well received by PAS and DAP at the respective constituencies.”
According to the sources, PKR could have won at least 10 additional parliament seats if the party had accepted the candidates proposed by the respective divisions. These are Bayan Lepas, Kulim Bandar Baru, Langkawi, Tanjung Malim, Bagan Serai, Pasir Salak, Hulu Selangor, Setiawangsa, Johor Bahru and Labuan.
Other sources said PKR would have found it tough to take Langkawi, Johor Bahru and Labuan no matter who the candidates were.
Silent protest
However, they added, the party should have been able to win Bayan Lepas, Kulim Bandar Baru, Machang, Bagan Serai and Hulu Selangor (all of which it won in 2008) and probably Tanjung Malim, Pasir Salak and Setiawangsa if Anwar and Azmin had listened to grassroots views.
These same sources attribute the loss of Machang, Tanah Merah and Merbok to poor service by the PKR MPs elected in 2008.
Interestingly, PKR secretary-general Saifudin Nasution Ismail, whose service as an MP did not impress many, was shifted out of Machang to the supposedly safe seat of Kulim Bandar Baru. He still lost.
Grassroots leaders and their followers campaigned half-heartedly for the parachute candidates at the 10 constituencies mentioned above.
“It was a sort of silent protest,” said an insider.
“Anyway, it would have been difficult to campaign wholeheartedly for them because they had little understanding of the local issues. They could not have plotted a proper strategy, given the short time they had between the confirmation of their candidacy and polling day.”
Insiders also complained that even non-performing MPs and state assemblymen were allowed to defend their seats just because they were close associates of Anwar or Azmin.
Websites that support the opposition cause have, at least since 2011, been carrying negative reviews of the performance of several PKR MPs and state assemblymen, including Abdullah Sani Abdul Hamid (Kuala Langat), Hee Loy Sian (Petaling Jaya Selatan), Kamarul Baharin Abbas (Telok Kemang), Azan Ismail (Indera Mahkota) and Mansor Othman (Penanti state seat).
To the surprise of many, all five were chosen as candidates in the recent election. A PKR leader in Kedah remarked that this was a strong signal to party members that “you can sleep on the job and still be assured of being a candidate as long as you dance to the tune played by Anwar and Azmin.”
It is believed all five were victorious only because the seats chosen for them were Pakatan strongholds.
“The problem with Anwar,” said a grassroots leader, “is that he thinks PKR can win regardless of the quality of candidates because voters were eager for a change of government, and he made the judgment by looking at the large crowds that attended his ceramahs.
“He failed to see that he got massive crowds mostly at urban and suburban venues. In the kampungs and Felda areas, he could only attract about 1,000 people at the most.”
