Party chief admonishes newsmen for asking about goings-on in Sarawak PKR
KUALA LUMPUR: PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim reprimanded journalists when asked about a reported conflict on the appointment of the new Sarawak PKR chairman. He played down the issue, saying there was no such thing and only the media had raised it. “Such a thing has not come up, only raised by the media,” he said and added that it was normal for one or two to raise objections.
“Kamu sibuk apasal? Apa masalah? (Why are you being so nosy? What is the problem?) “Why Are You not enquiring about the chairman for Selangor, Penang or Perlis?” he asked when approached after he had delivered the Za’aba Lecture 2018 on ‘Malays and Islam in the Era of the New Malaysia’ at Universiti Malaya here. The normally-calm Anwar was asked whether there was a disagreement over the appointment of the new Sarawak PKR chairman.
In a terse reply, he asked why the media was only concerned about Sarawak. Anwar’s reaction came as a surprise especially after he had calmly answered several other questions posed by the reporters. There has been talk among Sarawak PKR members that current chairman Baru Bian may be replaced by Julau MP and Julau PKR division head Larry Sng. Some members have claimed that the Sarawak PKR chairman is appointed by the divisions, as per the Kuching Declaration 2012 and 2014, and not the party president as in the case of states in the peninsula.
Anwar said the appointment of the PKR chairmen will be made as usual in accordance with the party constitution. Baru, the Works Minister and Selangau MP Baru Bian, did not contest for a central leadership council (MPP) spot in the recent party polls.
Anwar had publicly reprimanded Baru for skipping the final day of the party’s congress over the past weekend. Baru had explained that he had sought leave to do so because of ministry appointments and had said he had conveyed this to the congress secretariat through his political secretary Zakaria Abdul Hamid. Asked about this, Anwar said he was aware of Baru’s explanation.
“I will advise him, in the future, (to) make sure the priorities are right. I think we want to move on. He did explain in detail. My concern is if every minister gives this sort of explanation, nobody will attend the congress. “My position is that he has given an explanation, we accepted it, and we move on,” he said. In a related development, a news portal reported that Sng was not keen to lead Sarawak PKR and that he preferred to focus on his new role as an elected PKR central leadership council (MPP) member.
“As I have just won a position on the MPP, I plan to focus on this new role and ensure that I provide the necessary support to the top leadership of PKR, particularly the president in his efforts to strengthen the party and prepare himself for the prime ministership. “For Sarawak, my plan is to focus on Julau,” Malaysiakini quoted him as saying yesterday. Sng said party positions meant little to him. “What’s most important is whether you are in a capacity to serve and whether you have the influence to implement change.
