PKR Youth No 2 in open rebellion against chief, backs Azmin

PETALING JAYA: PKR Youth's No 2 Muhammad Hilman Idham is mounting a mutiny and lashing out against top party leaders for breaking tradition.

Deputy PKR Youth Chief and Gombak Setia state assemblyman has openly defied his chief and said the PKR Youth National Convention on Dec 6 in Melaka would be officiated by deputy president Datuk Seri Azmin Ali, in the name of "upholding tradition".

This is despite his chief Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir, Johor Baru MP, having announced that Deputy Prime Minister and advisor to PKR central leadership council Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail would be the one officiating the event.

Claiming he had the support of the majority of all elected PKR Youth leaders from nationwide, Hilman said that he would move all youth delegates from branches and divisions nationwide to attend the PKR Youth National Convention together with the PKR Women's National Convention.

Hilman is also the political secretary of Azmin.

In a statement released late night on Nov 20, Hilman said that he agreed with the majority of elected PKR Youth National leaders to defend any attempt to sabotage the premiership of Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

PKR preparations for its national convention scheduled for Dec 6-Dec 8 have been in an upheaval since the withdrawal of the invitation to Azmin to officiate the PKR Youth National Convention.

Akmal had said that the national leadership had agreed to invite Dr Wan Azizah instead after Azmin delayed in his response.

Azmin hit back, stating that this was an attempt to gag him from speaking to PKR members.

Sarawak PKR state leadership had cancelled its state convention over the matter and 32 of its leaders flew to Kuala Lumpur on Nov 20 to demand that PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim step up and put a stop to the chaos in the party.

Selangor PKR, the state where Azmin was Mentri Besar, has also postponed its state convention indefinitely, stating the leaders had yet to decide.

Top leadership Anwar and Azizah said that the uprising were internal party matters and urged Azmin to attend party meetings to discuss the matter.