SHAH ALAM - A Sabah PKR delegate has reminded party leaders not to mix personal interest with the interest of the party as talks on the big tent approach intensify.
Mohd Raffi Jamaluddin said this could lead to divisions within the party and the Pakatan Harapan coalition as seen during the Sheraton Move which saw the sudden collapse of the elected Pakatan Harapan government.
During his speech at the PKR congress today, he urged top leadership to be cautious of the big tent approach where opposition parties are planning to join hands to topple Barisan Nasional in the 15th General Elections (GE15).
"The vision and mission of our party in PH is towards the struggle of the people. Just because of the big tent, we do not want some parties to monopolise the issue," he said at the PKR congress at IDCC Shah Alam, Selangor, today.
"Don't mix personal affairs (with the struggle of the party) to avoid another Sheraton Move," he told PKR leaders.
He said he is unhappy with some leaders who are "so busy with the big tent concept to a point they ignore the party's struggle. We want leaders to defend the people."
Raffi asked if the party's top leadership had forgotten the "betrayal" faced during the Sheraton Move which saw the sudden collapse of the PH coalition.
The reason for the collapse was due to differing views and groups.
PKR member Chua Wei Kiat said the big tent issue has been hotly debated among party members with some disagreeing with the approach. "The members have given a clear message that we want PKR to stop cooperating with other parties which are not sincere to the agenda we are fighting for.
"Just now, our members voiced out about this during the congress so I believe the message is quite clear and I hope after this congress, the party can move on and lead us to face the election,” he told Sinar Daily.
Farhan Salleh, the Negeri Sembilan party leader said the party needs to field young candidates for GE15 to woo the younger crowd.
Newly elected PKR Youth Central Leadership Council (MPP) member Siti Nurqamarina Mohd Ghani said it is good that PKR is thinking of bringing forward more young candidates in GE15 but "they need to consider the candidate’s capabilities whether they can lead the party or not in whatever area they are covering."
Meanwhile, PKR Youth leader Adam Adli said it is important for the party to include young candidates in the GE15 in order to convince young voters.
"We understand that the younger generation would like to see younger leaders.
"They have trust issues with the political ‘dinosaurs’, so it is only natural for all of us today to agree that yes, come GE15 we need more young candidates so that we can convince this large demographic of voters in the upcoming election,” he said.
He added that having young candidates to represent the party will reassure the young voters that they are being well-represented.