PKR leaders said party president Anwar Ibrahim (left) and his deputy Rafizi Ramli have been presenting a united political messaging. - PARTI KEADILAN RAKYAT, RAFIZI RAMLI/FACEBOOK
KUALA LUMPUR (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): When opposition maverick Rafizi Ramli comfortably won the deputy presidency of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), political pundits were quick to conclude that it would result in more acrimony due to his testy ties with party president Anwar Ibrahim.
One month since Rafizi's victory over Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution, who is widely considered to be Datuk Seri Anwar's closest political confidant, temperatures in the opposition party have cooled with no signs of any major tension.
PKR leaders in the Anwar and Rafizi camps noted that both leaders have in recent weeks been presenting a united political messaging that largely revolves around the government's failure to deal with rising inflation and food security issues.
Party insiders, however, remain divided on whether they can make a team.
Anwar favours the so-called "big tent" approach that would mean striking pacts with other parties to avoid multi-cornered fights in the general election. Rafizi is more inclined for PKR to go into the polls on its own to win electoral support.
But in recent days, Rafizi appears to have softened his position and has publicly declared that the opposition Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition has a good chance to secure victory in the upcoming polls.
"The two of them really have no choice but to make it work because doing badly in the coming election will relegate PKR to political oblivion," noted a senior political aide to Anwar, who is privy to ongoing discussion between the two politicians.
Political operatives and strategists in the Rafizi camp acknowledge that the stakes are high for PKR, but they insist that how this partnership develops will depend on Anwar, who is now walking a political tightrope juggling the interests of party leaders close to him and those more closely aligned to his new deputy.
"Rafizi won convincingly and that is a clear message that the old ways of doing things are no longer approved. Anwar needs to get both sides to share the same page on how to move forward before the (general) election," said a chief executive of a boutique financial advisory firm, who is aligned to Rafizi.
Party leaders for both camps contend that a coming together is crucial for PKR to rediscover its footing after several of its senior elected representatives defected in February 2020, resulting in the collapse of the PH coalition after 22 months in power.
Since then, PKR's political fortunes have been on a downward spiral, with the party suffering serious losses in several state assembly elections.
All eyes will be on the two-day party convention that begins on July 16, where both Anwar and Rafizi will deliver their keynote addresses that PKR leaders hope will signal that the new party line-up is united.
A positive outcome could provide a much-needed boost to the party's political prestige, cement its dominant position within the PH coalition, and help mollify widespread voter apathy ahead of the general election. The poll must be held by September 2023, but many analysts expect it to be called this year.
But finding common ground is not going to be easy because the party does not have any clear political philosophy apart from being against corruption, cronyism and nepotism.
PKR was born out of the political fallout between former premier Mahathir Mohamad and Anwar, who was his deputy at the time. Differences over how to manage Malaysia's economic crisis during Asia's financial turmoil in 1997 led to Anwar's sacking and his subsequent conviction and jailing over corruption and sexual misconduct.
The public anger over Dr Mahathir's treatment of his erstwhile successor sparked noisy street protests and brought together politicians aligned to Anwar, non-governmental organisations and social activists to form Parti Keadilan Nasional in 1999, which was later renamed PKR.
Rafizi was among the thousands of people who participated in the protests and decided to join the party.
Rafizi, who is now 44, was appointed to the party's high council in 2003, and was the youngest person to be appointed to the position at the time. He later took on roles as the party's strategic director and vice-president.
His rise up the party ranks took a nasty knock when he contested to become deputy president in 2018 but lost to Datuk Seri Azmin Ali who led the defection in February 2022.
After that setback, Rafizi took a sabbatical from politics in 2019 to focus on his political campaign management company, Invoke Malaysia, which is widely considered to deliver some of the more accurate readings of public opinion on politics.
Since his return to active politics in March, Rafizi has been holding weekly campaign meetings and mobilising party volunteers to prepare for the next general election that he believes will be held in August or September.
"PKR needs to excite voters to come out to vote again, and things are looking better for the party compared with three months ago," said a senior operative in Anwar's inner circle, adding that the party has got rid of the "political Trojan horse", referring to Azmin.
