Today, in contrast to Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Karim’s warning that PKR was “losing a lot of blood”, the party’s secretary-general Fuziah Salleh responded with what essentially amounts to: where got ...no lah ...where got crisis...nothing to see here...everything is fine.
Her argument? Since Rafizi formed Bersama, PKR has only lost around 1,000 members.
Just 1,000 members.
Go figure.
If Fuziah had at least the sense to claim 10,000, perhaps it might have sounded more believable. But the fact that she settled on 1,000 makes her explanation difficult to take seriously.
When I look at Fuziah’s response, I can see why PKR is in trouble.
It is in trouble not only because of external reasons — but because when confronted with a serious crisis, one of the main people tasked with navigating thorugh it appears more interested in denying its existence.
What exactly is Fuziah doing to help PKR through these difficult times, you ask?
Well, if you ask me, I feel that all that she intends to do to solve this crisis is apply the “ostrich strategy” — burying her head in the sand and hoping that if she refuses to acknowledge the problem, the problem will somehow disappear on its own.
Anyway, what exactly is the basis for Fuziah’s “only 1,000 members left” claim?
Well, according to her, only 1000 members have left PKR because the party’s online membership management platform has not recorded a significant spike in resignations since Rafizi announced his departure on May 16.
“Our Adil application, the online platform where members apply to leave the party, did not register numbers that are significant. Only less than a thousand left since May 16,” she said.
This explanation becomes harder to accept when one considers the publicly announced departures that have already taken place.
Former Tiram assemblyman S Gopalakrishnan reportedly left together with nearly 2,000 members in Johor who joined Bersama’s pro-tem committee.
Nineteen committee members from the Pandan PKR Youth division, including deputy chief Haqimi Zamri, have resigned.
Sabah PKR vice-chairman Mohd Amin Abdul Mem has also reportedly left to align himself with Bersama.
On the very day Rafizi and Nik Nazmi announced their departure, several PKR leaders and lawmakers attended the event to show support.
Wong Chen even went further — saying that if he contests again in the next election, it will be under Bersama’s banner, not PKR’s.
And all this, and more, has happened in less than two weeks after Rafizi and Nik Nazmi has announced leaving PKR and joining Bersama.
Yet despite all this, Fuziah insists that only 1,000 members have left because that is what “the system” says.
To me, this is equivalent to someone insisting it is only drizzling outside because the weather forecast says so — even while a hurricane batters the town.
Ironically, Fuziah’s response itself may explain why PKR is facing this crisis.
How did figures like Fuziah Salleh, Fadhlina Sidek, Ramanan, and Farhash become so prominent within PKR in the first place?
Looking at how the current crisis is being handled, I doubt it is purely because of exceptional talent or ability.
The prominence of these figures raises larger questions about how advancement works inside PKR.
If PKR were truly a highly competitive organisation, would these individuals have been able to rise to occupy such prominent place in the organisation?
Their rise suggests that perhaps PKR is less a party built on open competition and more one shaped by selection — where advancement depends heavily on approval from the top leadership.
In such a system, if you are not promoted, you do not conclude that you lost fairly to stronger competitors.
Instead, you conclude that you were simply not favoured by the top leadership.
And if that becomes the dominant mindset, loyalty becomes transactional.
People will only stay while the organisation is winning.
The moment they believe the ship is sinking, they do not rush in to save it.
Instead, they rush out to abandon it with glee.
PKR is not an opposition party struggling for relevance.
It is the ruling party.
It governs Putrajaya, controls multiple ministries, and leads several states.
This crisis it is facing should really have not been its fate.
That this is its fate is squarely Anwar's fault.
Why ?
Because it is because of him that all that PKR has to face its crisis today are figures like Fuziah, Fadhlina, Farhash, and Ramanan appear while figures like Rafizi — and even Nurul Izzah — appear to have been sidelined or have left PKR in frustration.
The crisis of confidence PKR is facing today — not just among voters, but among its own supporters and members — may not have happened if its Anwar had managed talent, dissent, and succession more effectively.
TheRealNehruism (nehru.sathiamoorthy@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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