SHAH ALAM - PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim denies the claims of him saying that he has a ‘favorite’ in choosing a figure to represent the vice-president post, specifically between Rafizi Ramli and Saifuddin Nasution.
He said those running for the PKR deputy-president positions had different approaches, but both were seeking the same thing for the party, which was a more genuine reform.
"I have no favouritism, we cannot deny the nature of having a preference, but that should not be made as a reason to influence the democratic party as long as the leadership accepts the reforms principle of the constitution.
"I do not think that should be a problem, those who are running for deputy-presidency have different approaches and both of them want a more genuine reform as both of them want to help the president.
"If it was possible, I want to give out two vice-president posts for them,” he told the reporters from Sinar Karangkraf group during an exclusive interview on Thursday.
When asked about the 12 per cent voter turnout during PKR polls, Anwar said it was an improvement if compared to 2010 polls where only 10 per cent of members voted.
"The 12 per cent comprised about 200,000 members, name me other parties that allow each of its members to vote.
"Usually (for other parties) they only send their representatives from each branch. For us to plan this... in a week receiving 200,000 votes and if by the end of the week may reach 250,000, a quarter of a million voters is enough to me,” he said.
On Pakatan Harapan (PH)’s chance to take over Putrajaya, Anwar said that the party would work towards it and the losses in Melaka and Johor polls were due to several reasons.
"InsyaAllah, we will work towards it (taking over Putrajaya), our failures in Melaka and Johor state elections occurred due to several reasons.
"We have to concede the fact that there were some flaws, weaknesses. We have to acknowledge and improve some policies, lack of clarity, issues of collaboration with other parties, and reaching out to constituents because we have been focusing on areas that we won.
"PH’s leadership has to be open and the dialogue between Rafizi and Saifuddin indicated some truth that the image of PH can be deemed as both helping and hurting the rakyat,” he said.
The PKR president also stressed that it was important to re-energise the public.
"We also have to re-energise the public, because Umno also did not do fairly well. We were not able to re-energise the public to have that sort of commitment to support (the state elections) so they were just apathetic.
"This is, of course doomed to fail not only for PKR or PH but for the whole country,” he said.
He said he acknowledged the flaws and suggested that Malaysians look beyond the election, but to the future of the country.
PH being 22 months old might not be as exciting but it was better than the past 60 years with a series of disasters, said Anwar.
Anwar also said that the urban elite was going off at him for not approving some matters but according to him, it could not be approved without going through proper processes.
"It can be approved but there are clear processes that we need to undergo. It is not as simple as presenting it to some ministers and start implementing it.
"This is just a gist of the perspective of the arrogance of power and this is not a matter of accepting or going against the matter, but we are talking about the suggestion of progressive and radical plans.
"I’m not trying to defend PH’s faults, I’m only defending the positive side because what’s important is that we need to move forward and be free from corruption,” he said.
Rafizi and Saifuddin, who were running to be PKR’s deputy president, had a debate on May 11 ahead of the PKR polls, which started in mid-May and wrapped up last Sunday.
The PKR poll had garnered participations only from 12 per cent or 136,000 of the PKR members in the party’s 2022 election.
PKR Elections Committee chairman Dr Zaliha Mustafa had said there were still election processes in some divisions that were postponed on the day of the incident and the voting for the divisions needed to be re-held before the end of May.
The results were expected to be announced on June 25.
In the Johor state election in March, PKR contested for 20 seats, but they only secured one seat.
In the Melaka state election on November last year, the party fielded 11 candidates at Lendu, Machap Jaya, Rembia, Kelebang, Paya Rumput, Sungai Udang, Asahan, Ayer Molek, Sungai Rambai, Rim and Tanjung Bidara but failed to win a single seat
For the record, in the last general election held in 2018, PKR had contested 12 seats, and managed secure five seats – Bukit Naning, Pemanis, Semerah, Bukit Batu and Tiram.