I think Rafizi calling Nurul Izzah to debate is both the correct and rational approach for someone is Rafizi’s position to take.
Rafizi is losing. When you are losing, you should at least show that you have a capacity to fight, in order to turn things around.
That Rafizi is calling Nurul Izzah to debate to turn things around is thus the correct action for him to take, on account of his circumstances.
Nurul Izzah however, is declining Rafizi’s challenge to debate.
Some analyst are saying that Nurul Izzah declining Rafizi’s debate challenge is a sign of weakness and portends poorly to Nurul Izzah’s ability to lead PKR, if perchance to lead PKR is her destiny, but I think that it is Nurul Izzah accepting rafizi’s debate challenge that is a sign of weakness, and portends poorly to Nurul Izzah’s ability to win.
I think so because Nurul Izzah’s position is different from Rafizi’s. Unlike Rafizi, she is winning. When you are losing, yes, the right thing to do is show your capacity to fight, by accepting a challenge, but when you are winning, what you are supposed to do is show your capacity to win, not your capacity to fight.
Like Sun Tzu said : “To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.”
Even if Nurul Izzah is able to defeat Rafizi in a debate 100 times, that is not the acme of skill. The acme of skill is to win against him without even debating him once.
But if Nurul Izzah doesn’t debate Rafizi, wouldn’t people think that she is weak or cowardly or unable to do a man’s job?
Well, to this all I will say is that at the stage she is in right now, people will measure her not by her gender or her bravado or gall, but by her capability to win.
Of the people that think that she is weak or cowardly or unable to do a man’s job, because she is refusing to accept Rafizi’s debate challenge, most will change their mind after she wins.
As for those who don’t change their mind, then they don't matter, because they will likely not change their mind even if she accepts Rafizi’s challenge and wins.
There is a major difference between a lieutenant and a general – a lieutenant prepares to fight, while a general prepares to win.
Rafizi, and some analysts, might be casting doubt on Nurul Izzah’s ability to lead PKR’s election campaign because they are hinting that she is incapable of fighting, but if Nurul Izzah thinks that her job is to show people she is capable of fighting, perhaps she should contest for some local ranking position, like that of the Vice president, rather than aim to be the number 2 and future number 1 of PKR .
As the number 2 or the future number 1 of PKR, what Nurul Izzah needs to do the most is to convince everybody, not only in PKR, but also in PH as well as the country, that she can lead them to victory, and not just lead them to battle.
To do that, she needs to show that she has the ability of converting even enemies into allies, without converting allies into enemies.
Right now, the way that Rafizi is conducting his campaign against Nurul Izzah, is showing signs that he might be burning bridges with PKR if he were to lose his number 2 against her.
So far, he has already threatened to quit his position as a the economic minister if he loses, speak against unity government once he resigns as a minister, accused his PKR colleagues of mishandling the division level election where most of his allies were defeated and saying that the chances that PKR and PH will win the next general election is bleak.
Considering the “do or die” mode that Rafizi is conducting his re-election campaign in, there is a good chance that after he is defeated, either he will leave PKR on his own accord or he will be booted out of PKR, simply because his re-election campaign has made it difficult for him to continue to stay in PKR.
Considering that, Nurul Izzah’s true challenge as a leader will come only after she has won the PKR election, not before.
If she was a part of the older generation of leaders, be it Mahathir, Taib Mahmud or even her own father, Anwar Ibrahim, chances are, she is going to eliminate Rafizi as how Mahathir once eliminated her father or how her own father eliminated Azmin.
If Nurul Izzah does that however, the she will be in trouble, because it is likely that the new generation will be much interested in getting a younger leader likely her who is only going to continue practising the old ways of doing politics, which has caused an enormous of toxicity to seep into the social fabric of the country, in the form of never-ending politicking, political persecutions, bigotry, corruption and exploitation.
Also, if all she intends to do is continue practising old politics, between her and someone like Rafizi, it is Rafizi that will finally emerge victorious, even if he is defeated in the coming PKR elections, becauses Rafizi looks like he is more capable of conducting the old way of doing politics than her.
To carry forward the torch of Reformasi, the people must see Nurul Izzah as a leader in a new light, and for us to do so, we will need to see what she will do with an ambitious politician like Rafizi, once she has won.
On one hand, she cannot appear so foolish, as to keep a snake in her own backyard, which is ever looking for an opportunity to bring her down.
On the other hand, she cannot appear so machiavellian, as to nip a potential challenger to her reign in the bud, as the previous generation of politicians had a tendency to do.
Somehow, she has to find a way to work together with Rafizi, although there is no one in the old generation, including her father, who can guide her as to how she will be able to do it.
It is her ability to do so, and chart a new way forward, while carrying the torch of Reformasi, that will not only determine how successful she will be in leading PKR and PH’s general election campaign, but how fit she is to lead PKR, PH and the country, into the future.
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