Get out, PKR opportunists told

With three by-elections around the corner, PKR is in serious mood. And the party has to be.

Today, PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim sets the tone for the tough battles ahead by calling on all party leaders and members to strengthen the party from the core.

Speaking at a special meeting for PKR legislators and other key party leaders in Shah Alam, Anwar said one of the major steps needed to strengthen PKR is to rid the party of opportunists.

Without naming names, he told his party chiefs that there were members who emailed him specifically to request for titles and posts in the party.

“Some of them even threatened me by saying that they will leave the party if they don’t get any posts. If they want to leave the party just because of this, let them leave,” Anwar told his audience of some 300 people gathered in a Shah Alam hotel this afternoon.

He stressed it was better for such selfish people to leave as they would be liabilities to the party.

Anwar, both casual in mood and dress, seemed to give Sarawak voters something to look forward to in the upcoming by-election in Batang Ai by focusing on native customary rights (NCR) land issue in the state.

“But this is not only Sarawak’s issue, but a national issue,” he said, promising that land problems will feature prominently in the coming Batang Ai campaign.

PKR is expected to vie for the Batang Ai seat and among those present at the event today were key PKR leaders from Sarawak, including its potential candidate Nicholas Bawin.

Bawin, the Sarawak PKR deputy chair, is a known advocate of the rights of indigenous groups in Sarawak to own NCR lands and have them titled.

On the proposed on-off toll hike, Anwar lashed at the government for their incompetency, saying that it was nothing short of lip service by the government.

“Trust me, after the by-election in Batang Ai (Sarawak), the toll increase will be put back on track as it was postponed for only a short period of time…this is definitely Umno-BN culture,” he said.

However, he conceded that the current political scenario has put Pakatan Rakyat at a crossroad as they are now faced with an “emotional propaganda - three R’s - race, religion, and royalty.”

“These three emotive issues have developed into the Malay’s psychology.

“If the people are not shown the real picture on these issues, they will be fooled by persuasion on the symbols of race, religion and royalty, which will bring their way of thinking back into the feudal era,” said Anwar.

‘Police acting like Umno tools’
At a press conference later, the PKR supremo slammed the police for arresting the PKR parliamentarian for Kapar, S Manikavasagam, earlier today for lodging a police report against the authorities for denying medical treatment for detained Hindraf leader P Uthayakumar.

“He and the supporters were just defending their friends in detention but it looks like the police have become the tools for Umno,” said Anwar.

Earlier in the afternoon, about 300 Hindraf supporters had gathered in front of the Brickfields police station in Kuala Lumpur to demand proper medical attention for Uthayakumar, only to be sprayed by chemical-laced water by the police.

This also resulted in the arrest of 17 people including Manikavasagam and Police Watch and Human Rights Committee co-ordinator S Jayathas.

“What is wrong in lodging police reports? They’re not even disrupting the traffic. It is not healthy for the police to obstruct anybody from doing so,” said Anwar.

malaysiakini

01/03/09