PM: All those reports are not true

SHAH ALAM: Claims that MIC will not be supporting Pakatan Harapan’s candidate for the upcoming Kuala Kubu Baharu by- election is false, says Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

According to the Prime Minister, MIC president Tan Sri SA Vigneswaran had informed him of the party’s intention to help Pakatan’s candidate in next month’s polls.

Anwar said this when asked about talk claiming that both MIC and MCA are planning not to campaign for the Pakatan candidate in the May 11 by-election.

“That’s not true. The MIC president called me and he told me he will go (to Kuala Kubu Baru) on Monday (today).

“Where are you hearing this from? He (Vigneswaran) said he will be in Kuala Kubu Baru.

“All those reports saying they (MIC and MCA) will not cooperate are not true,” he said.

Anwar told reporters this when met at Ideal Convention Centre here after attending PKR’s 25th anniversary convention yesterday.

The Kuala Kubu Baharu state seat fell vacant following the death of incumbent assemblyman Lee Kee Hiong from DAP on March 21.

Polling is fixed for May 11, while nomination day falls on April 27 and early polling is on May 7.

Earlier in his speech at the party convention, Anwar reminded PKR members at state, division and branch levels to strengthen the party machinery by closely monitoring the implementation of programmes.

Anwar said he had asked the party leadership to assist the machinery by providing information and closely monitoring the implementation of programmes at all levels according to schedule.

The PKR president urged the party machinery to increase membership while urging State Leadership Councils (MPN) to be more active and robust.

“You know that no matter how loud our slogans are, or how just our cause is, if it’s not well-organised with solid machinery, we will lose to those who shout ‘Hidup Melayu’ (Long live the Malays) or ‘Laksanakan Islam’ (Implement Islam) even though we know their record is dismal.

“So we need to focus on programmes, execute them properly and aggressively explain our stance and position while earnestly strengthening our machinery so that Keadilan emerges as a giant in our country’s political system.”

The rollout of two frameworks at the convention, Pop25 and Kemas16, demonstrated the party’s readiness to face the 16th General Election (GE16) and stay relevant for the next 25 years, Anwar said.

Under the Kemas16 framework, the party aims to strengthen its grassroots organisations through structured and periodic programmes, which is also part of PKR’s preparation for GE16.

As for the Pop25 framework, the party will work more towards increasing PKR’s membership, establishing more party branches, creating trained communication machinery and implementing leadership training at the state level.The party would hold a day-long 25th Anniversary Celebration at Sentul Depot, Kuala Lumpur on May 11, with the main event being the delivery of Anwar’s address as party president.