Lonely crusade to revive PRM

PETALING JAYA: Hassan Karim joined Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) in 1978. 

Over the years, the Johor politician rose to become one of the most respected figures in the party. So, he must have been more than a little surprised to find that he is now the target of censure, even condemnation, from his former socialist colleagues. 

The reason: Hassan is convening a special congress in Johor Baru this afternoon to revive PRM. 

The fringe socialist party has not been functioning following the merger with Parti Keadilan Nasional, the party set up by supporters of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. The new entity is known as Parti Keadilan Rakyat or PKR. 

Hassan attended the PRM congress in 2002 that approved the merger. 

But he now wants the old party to go on although the bulk of its leaders and members are now entrenched in PKR. 

His ex-comrades have accused him of all manner of things – fickleness, peevishness and even political sabotage. 

Dr Syed Husin Ali, former PRM president and now the No2 man in PKR, accused Hassan of playing divisive politics. 

Another PKR politician Dr Sanusi Osman even claimed that the Johor Baru meeting today would only “benefit the enemies” of PKR.  

They cannot understand why Hassan is acting this way when he had quite willingly contested under the PKR ticket in the last general election. 

“It's very simple, we don't want to let PRM die,” he said. 

Even former PRM stalwart Abdul Razak Ahmad, one of Johor's most famous opposition figures, has been unable to get him to change his mind. 

Last week, Hassan went to see Abdul Razak about the PRM revival plan. 

“I told him I was against it, that what he's doing is wrong because the majority had voted for the merger,” said Abdul Razak. 

The advice fell on deaf ears.  

Still, many are puzzled why Hassan and his colleagues would want to revive a party that has not won any electoral seats in decades. 

The party has neither funds nor broad support. It had stayed alive mainly because of a core of diehard members, many of them ageing socialists.  

The move to merge with Keadilan basically involved PRM members migrating en bloc into PKR. 

PRM would then be formally dissolved.  

The fact that this had not been done is one of Hassan's bones of contention. 

The party has been left to languish and the Registrar of Societies has given notice that the party may soon be struck off the rolls. 

Hassan admitted that he is still sentimental about the party to which he devoted his adult life. 

“Joining political parties is not like changing clothes. It's a lifelong struggle,” he said 

Besides, PRM is 50 years old this year and Hassan is apparently unwilling to let the party be extinguished on such a significant anniversary. 

He is also upset that leaders did not keep their word to formally dissolve PRM.  

He pointed to how Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah had convened a special assembly to give Semangat 46 a good send-off when its members returned en bloc to Umno.  

Hassan had turned down a top position in PKR and has resolutely refused to join the new party. 

His motivation to rebuild PRM is probably a mix of ideology and sentimentalism.  

It is also likely that he is uncomfortable with the way PKR is going. For instance, he was particularly critical of Anwar's support for the appointment of US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz as the World Bank president.  

The PRM had always been staunchly anti-imperialism and critical of American hegemony, hence, Anwar's backing for one of the chief architects of the Iraq war was quite difficult to swallow. 

Hassan admitted the special congress today would draw, at most, about 100 people. 

“But many people have called me to give moral support. They told me to look after the party. They don't want it to die like that.”