Though Rafizi is contesting against Nurul Izzah for the number 2 position in PKR, the most important person that he probably has to defeat in order to win the contest is himself.
He must, because it looks like Rafizi is his own worst enemy.
Barely a couple of days since Nurul Izzah has announced that she will be challenging Rafizi for the number 2 position, Rafizi has been saying a whole bunch of things that make him look like he is throwing a tantrum.
Even before Nurul Izzah had announced that she was going to challenge Rafizi, Rafizi had already threatened to resign as the Economic minister, probably to stop Nurul Izzah from taking him on.
After he was challenged, he again threatened to resign as a minister if he lost, and this time, to add to his earlier threat, he also threatened that once he resigns, he is going to speak up against the unity government.
If Rafizi is sincere in speaking up against the unity government, he should resign and do it now itself. That he is saying that he will only do so if he loses, makes his desire to speak out sound more like a threat than it is the outcome of a sincere disappointment of how the Unity government has been functioning.
Just yesterday, Rafizi was also burning bridges in his attempt to defeat Nurul Izzah, by hinting that a victory for Nurul Izzah is a tantamount to a victory for nepotism, and he has also fired shot against his own party, for alleging that the branch and division level election that PKR held last month, where many of his allies had lost, was “mishandled.”
For some unknown reason, he is also casting aspersions on Nurul Izzah’s ability to lead PKR’s campaign during the general election, when the way he is leading his own election campaign, raises suspicion whether he himself will be able to lead PKR’s election campaign in an emotionally stable manner.
Earlier, he had even stated that PH might not win the next election because less than 30 percent of Malays support it while support from the non-Malay is crashing. Until he was challenged, he never said anything to the tune.
So far, Nurul Izzah has not fired any shots against Rafizi, but by the looks of it, she might not need to fire a single shot against him to win, because he looks like he is entirely capable of defeating himself.
Like Napoleon said: “Do not interrupt your enemy when they are making a mistake.”
Considering the way that Rafizi is bringing ruin to himself, all that Nurul Izzah probably has to do is just be patient and wait, for Rafizi himself is likely going to find a rope, tie it to the ceiling fan and hang his career, even before the first vote is cast.
Just a few days into campaign mode, Rafizi himself has in fact asked PKR delegates to vote for his rival, Nurul Izzah , as the party’s next deputy president.
“If Nurul Izzah loses, what is the message being sent to Malaysians? That PKR members are rejecting Anwar. So, because of that, Nurul Izzah must win. What other choice do we have?
“My campaign is simple: vote for Nurul Izzah. We can’t have any other result, because if Nurul Izzah loses, that means Anwar is being rejected,” he said at a campaign event in Kedah tonight.
I don’t know how Rafizi looks at it, but surely he must realize that the way he conducts himself, by saying things like vote for Nurul Izzah during his campaign speeches, or that he will speak against PKR and the unity government if he loses, or by running a podcast that is titled Yang Bakar Menteri or by naming his campaign for re-election as “HIDUPKAN IDEALISME REFORMASI DALAM UJIAN KUASA”, whose acronym HIRUK means causing a commotion of throwing a tantrum in Malay, is giving him a very negative vibe.
It is not only making him look self-absorbed and emotional, it is also making him look like the sort of leader that will capsize the entire boat if they cannot be the captain.
It is no wonder that some PKR members are already saying that Rafizi is starting to remind them of Mahathir.
Mahathir afterall, was also famous for going against not one, or two, but three of his own handpicked successors, when they did not let him feel like he was the one in charge. When his third attempt to topple Najib faltered, Mahathir would even break his party, umno apart, in order to bring Najib down and climb to the top spot.
To bring down Mahathir’s method of running the country, was the reason why PKR was formed. That Rafizi is running his campaign that causes him to be compared to Mahathir is surely not doing him any favors with the members of a party whose rallying call for the longest time was to reform Malaysia from the ill effects of Mahathirism.
The very fact that despite his reelection campaign making him look so bad, that no one around him is even telling him to stop, is even raising the question does Rafizi even have a team, or is he a lone ranger cum loose cannon, who is on his own?
Surely Rafizi cannot think that he can win his reelection all by himself, as if he is Chuck Norris, Rambo and the terminator all rolled into one.
If Nurul Izzah wins, we can see that she will have the support of not only her father, but probably other PKR stalwarts like Saifuddin, Fahmi or even Tengku Zafrul, who is anticipated to make his entry into PKR soon. From the way that she is showing restraint in not firing back at Rafizi, though Rafizi has taken multiple shots at her, we can also tell her that she can probably count on good counsel from her team.
But whither thou, Rafizi? Is there no one in your team that can tell you to get a grip of yourself, as you tantrum yourself to defeat all by yourself?
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