Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail has come forth to give her two cents regarding the incidence of collective-absenteeism at PKR events that began during the party’s three-day retreat in Port Dickson earlier this month.
According to her, Mahathir gave due prominence to party matters in his first 22 years on the job as Prime Minister and is no different today.
But one wonders if she is aware that the ‘prominence’ Mahathir gave included abusing his power to twist the arms of judiciary and the Registrar of Societies to destroy UMNO.
Is she trying to butter Mahathir up knowing that the old man may get someone else to replace her as Deputy Prime Minister?
SUBANG JAYA: Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail has come forth to give her two cents regarding the incidence of collective-absenteeism at PKR events that began during the party’s three-day retreat in Port Dickson earlier this month.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, the onetime PKR president used Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as a case in example when addressing the importance for party leaders to allot time for party matters.
“If we were to use Dr Mahathir as a reference, he was prime minister before for 22 years and is now again holding the post but still gives room for party matters.
“Being in a party, we (politicians) move up (elected by members) based on party policies. So it is better for us to strengthen it (give priority to the party),” she was quoted as saying by the Malay Mail Online.
Her remarks came on the heels of caution expressed by key leaders who linked the advent of collective-absenteeism to a possible lack of interest in the party.
On Sunday, party secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution cautioned against skipping future meetings as doing so would subject leaders to the discretion of the party’s political bureau.
“The leaders have been advised to attend and give priority to these meetings so we can, as a party, better coordinate policies and decisions,” communications director Fahmi Fadzil said.
Although Fahmi did not refer to any particular leader, he was likely referring to Dato’ Seri Azmin Ali and his team of detractors, prominent among them being Selangor PKR chairman Amirudin Shari, vice president Zuraida Kamarudin and women’s wing head Haniza Mohd Talha.
Things began going downhill for PKR when party president Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim insinuated that Azmin needed to resign as his deputy over allegations that the latter partook in a sex scandal.
The scandal broke the internet when Santubong Youth Chief Haziq Abdullah Abdul Aziz released a series of video clips featuring him and another individual engaged in sex against the order of nature.
Haziq confessed to being one of the individuals in the clips and claimed that the person he was seen having sex with in all of them was Azmin.
Anwar’s insinuation infuriated a large number of PKR leaders took to supporting Azmin and began sabotaging several branch and national level events by getting members to stay clear of them.
READ HERE TO DISCOVER WHY THEY SIDED AZMIN
What is most interesting about the whole affair is Wan Azizah’s reference to Mahathir when presenting her case.
According to her, the former UMNO president gave due prominence to party matters in his first 22 years on the job as Prime Minister and is no different today.
But one wonders if she is aware that the ‘prominence’ Mahathir gave included abusing his power to twist the arms of judiciary and the Registrar of Societies to destroy his own party.
READ: Mahathir is the Godfather of corruption, not unity (MUST READ)
Due to a disagreement over an election result, in 1988, Mahathir and Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah found themselves at daggers drawn in a bitter dispute that wound up in court.
The battle ended with the presiding judge, Justice Harun Hashim, declaring that UMNO was “an unlawful society.”
Within a fortnight of the decision, Mahathir announced the setting up of “UMNO Baru” which could only have been possible if its registration was premeditated and completed in hours.
It immediately became apparent that Mahathir had all along been in cahoots with the RoS to cripple the old UMNO and to steal the party’s name so as to allow the eventual transfer of its assets into the new UMNO.
Today, he leads an UMNO surrogate party that houses a bunch of disgruntled old men who were either denied positions in UMNO or were booted out altogether.
As a matter of fact, he himself left UMNO and set up another party just because people in UMNO did not want to do things his way.
And today, Wan Azizah is using him as an example to advise PKR members not to be divisive to prevent the party from crumbling. Where was she back in the eighties?
In a coma?
Or is she trying to butter Mahathir up knowing that the old man may get someone else to replace her as Deputy Prime Minister?
RJ RITHAUDEEN
