What’s the fallout from the PKR party polls?

Will peace rule? Nurul Izzah (left) prevailed seemingly with ease over Rafizi but the Economy Minister’s supporters online don’t expect him to quietly fade into the background. — THOMAS YONG/LOW LAY PHON/The Star

The leading government party now has one noisy member on the outs with the leadership

NOW that Datuk Seri Rafizi Ramli has failed to defend his PKR deputy president post, will his Hiruk (noise) get louder, or will it be Damai (peace) within the party?

Rafizi co-opted the Malay word for “noise, commotion, or uproar”, Hiruk, to stand for Hidupkan Idealisme Reformasi Dalam Ujian Kuasa (Reviving Reform Idealism in a Test of Power), the name he gave his scorched-earth campaign. Opponent Nurul Izzah Anwar went with Damai.

The daughter of Rafizi’s party president and his Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, now holds the No.2 position in PKR. Nurul Izzah received 9,803 votes, and Rafizi got 3,866.

What’s next for Rafizi?

Will he quit as Economy Minister as he promised during his Hiruk campaign?

If he does, will Rafizi, as he also reportedly said during the campaign, deploy hiruk against the Anwar government? The Economy Minister has said that he has been confined to the administration’s consensus views, unable to speak more freely as a minister.

“As a member of the administration, I cannot openly voice disagreement – even, for instance, if I disagree with the reappointment of [Tan Sri] Azam Baki as chief commissioner of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission,” he said.

“If I speak out, it could create difficulties for the Prime Minister, as the appointment is at his discretion.”

Rafizi explained that his concerns revolve around the current situation in which the unity government is seen as too defensive and not offensive like PKR was when it was in the Opposition.

Yesterday, he posted a thank you note on his Facebook account. He wrote that he was not disappointed at all at losing his deputy president post. “In fact, I feel quite relieved because now I can go back to being an ordinary person, saved from the drama of power and high-class politics,” he wrote.

Will Rafizi return to being an ordinary person? Or will his hiruk turn to pikuk, as some say?

I asked Gemini AI what pikuk means. The generative artificial intelligence chatbot developed by Google explained that “In the phrase ‘hiruk pikuk’, ‘pikuk’ serves to intensify and complete the meaning of ‘hiruk’, emphasising the sense of intense noise, commotion, and busy activity”.

If Rafizi goes into hiruk pikuk mode, it would be like his Hiruk campaign on steroids. On the campaign trail, he accused the Anwar family of nepotism and Datuk Seri R. Ramanan, the newly elected PKR vice president, of getting “special treatment” from Anwar. The Pandan MP also forecasted that PKR and Pakatan Harapan would not win the next general election.

If he goes into hiruk pikuk mode against the Madani government, the Anwar family, and PKR, will his party suspend or sack him?

If suspended, the Pandan MP could end up in political limbo like Semborong MP Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, a former Umno vice-president who was handed a six-year suspension supposedly for violating party discipline during the last general elections.

But Rafizi is not Hishammuddin, who has kept a low profile and is no longer whispered about as a potential prime minister.

Even though Rafizi might not be the darling of PKR delegates, who overwhelmingly voted for Nurul Izzah for deputy president, he seems to have won the hearts of the Pakatan Harapan crowd. According to comments on social media and news portals, some Pakatan supporters lost hope in the coalition after it got into power because of its broken reformasi (reform) promises.

Based on social media comments, Rafizi’s popular choice is to quit PKR and form a political party. These commentators want him to be a third force in Peninsular Malaysia’s political landscape and go up against the current two forces, the Madani government (Pakatan and Barisan Nasional) and the Opposition bloc Perikatan Nasional (PAS, Bersatu, and Gerakan).

They are looking for options in a situation where they are afraid of Perikatan grabbing power from a defensive Madani government as they don’t see Parti Muda and PSM as viable third forces.

If Rafizi forms a political party, I suggest he name it Parti Reformasi.

If Rafizi quits PKR, his Pandan parliamentary seat will be vacated. There will be a by-election, and it could be Hiruk (Rafizi) versus Damai (Nurul Izzah) 2.0. The newly elected PKR deputy president is not an MP, as she failed to defend her Permatang Pauh seat; Pandan used to be her mother’s constituency.

Rafizi versus Nurul Izzah 2.0 will test whether voters in the PKR stronghold have the same preferences as party delegates.

If Rafizi remains in PKR, will his hiruk fade into damai?

The bet is he will go into hiruk pikuk mode.