The schism inside PKR looks like it might have reached a tipping point, when PKR's Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Karim openly berated PKR Vice President and newly minted Human Resource Minister R. Ramanan for criticizing Rafizi at a PKR convention in Johor yesterday.
During his speech, Ramanan took aim at Rafizi Ramli, criticising his continued attacks on party leadership. Hassan, visibly upset, interrupted from the floor and confronted Ramanan, by objecting to the criticism he was offering to a of a leader who was not present to defend himself.
This is a convention. If anyone wants to debate, they should do it through the proper channels instead of abusing the platform. We cannot let personal disputes disrupt the event,” Hassan said.
Ramanan, undeterred, asserted his right to speak freely. He doubled down — declaring his loyalty to the party, to its president Anwar Ibrahim, and insisting that his criticism of Rafizi was justified.
“YB, you should defend the party. This party is our house. If you want to save the party, then you should not attack the party. That is not fair,” Ramanan said, r before concluding his speech.
Anwar, who was also present in the convention, try to cool tempers, by praising the Pasir Gudang MP's loyalty after his outburst during the meeting. but I am not sure just how much he succeeded in controlling the damage.
“During elections, whatever candidate I put, if I ask him (Hassan) to help campaign, he will do it! We want more of this kind of people.
“Just don’t be so outspoken, it makes me dizzy if there are ten Hassans in Johor. Luckily, there’s only one,” Anwar said in jest while covering his ears, sparking laughter in the audience.
I suppose Anwar was trying to make it sound as if everyone is on his side and PKR is united despite Hassan Karim's outburst, but despite his attempts, I don't think he succeeded in creating the perception that he intended to create.
I doubt that Hassan Karim, the conscience of PKR, openly spoke against Ramanan, in the presence of Anwar, because Rafizi paid him to do so or because he has a personal beef with Ramanan.
Rather, I think he spoke out against Ramanan simply because he was being deeply burdened by the “good person dilemma.”
If you see yourself as a good person, but you are on the same side with people who do not remind you of yourself, you will do either one of two things. Either you will leave your side or you will speak out against your own side, just to prove to yourself that although you are in a sewer, you still smell like a rose.
When Rafizi alone was speaking out against his own side, he might not have smelled like a rose, nor did PKR look like a sewer, because he only did so after he lost the PKR election. Rather than see him as a good person, it was easier to just see him as a sore loser, who is attacking his own party because he cannot accept his defeat.
But Hassan Karim, even in Anwar's own words, is not a man of ambition. If there is anything that we can say about Hassan, it is that he has a reputation of saying what he means and meaning what he says. We might not always agree with what he says, but none of us, I am quite sure, doubts that Hassan believes in what he says, and he is saying in not because it is something that he thinks others want to hear or becasue it something that he hopes will work in his self interest, but because he truly believes it to be true.
Tat Hassan has frequently sided with Rafizi, and is now even showing signs that he is openly aggrieved with the leadership of his party, cannot be easily attributed to the fact that Hassan is frustrated that he cannot move his ambition forward or dissatisfied that his status and position in the party has been reduced.
Rather, it looks like Hassan, the conscience of PKR is simply getting more vocal and aggressive against his own party leadership, simply because he is aggrieved by the fact that even to himself, he is starting to smell like the sewer, despite seeing himself as a rose.
From the public's perspective , Hassan's latest outbursts, which complements Rafizi's year old rebellion, will cause PKR to appear like it is in the midst of a civil war.
On one side stands the people like Anwar, Ramanan, Farhash and Azam Baki.
Against them, stand people like Hassan Karim and Rafizi.
Even Anwar's dearest daughter and heir apparent Nurul Izzah, judging by her conspicuous absence since winning the PKR election last year and recent rumour of resignation, seems to be reluctant to give her full support to Anwar.
Considering this, Anwar and PKR have to ask themselves, if the rakyat is asked to choose as to which is the good side and which is the not-so-good side, between the team that has Ramanan, Farhash and Azam Baki on it, and another team that has Hassan Karim, Rafizi and maybe even Nurul Izzah on it, which side will they see as the good side ?
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