I fear losing Rafizi PKR hopes to heal wounds and repair damage from divisive party polls

JOHOR BAHRU – As the dust settled on Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) leadership contest, calls have grown louder for Malaysia’s ruling party to begin healing the wounds left by a bitter campaign.

The vote on May 23 saw Economy Minister and incumbent Rafizi Ramli defeated by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s daughter Nurul Izzah Anwar for the deputy presidency.

Some of the victors in the divisional elections, which were marred by allegations of vote-rigging in April, have extended olive branches to the runners-up aligned with Datuk Seri Rafizi. PKR anchors Malaysia’s multi-coalition government that has been in power for 2½ years, with eight Cabinet ministers including Datuk Seri Anwar, who is also Finance Minister.

Mr Anwar’s faction enjoyed a landslide victory at the election, including in the youth and women wings, reversing losses from 2022. His eldest daughter, Ms Nurul Izzah, polled 72 per cent of the 13,669 votes against Mr Rafizi. Others allied with the premier took more than four fifths of other contested leadership positions.

During the closing of the party’s national congress on May 24, Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, speaking in his capacity as chief secretary for the Pakatan Harapan coalition, which PKR leads, recalled the moment the election results were announced.

“While others were celebrating the victory, I chose to accompany Mr Rafizi as he stepped down from the stage.
“I walked him to his car. We embraced, exchanged greetings and asked for forgiveness. I must honestly admit, I feared losing him from our party,” the emotional former PKR secretary general told delegates on May 24.
Calling the 47-year-old Mr Rafizi his “little brother,” Datuk Seri Saifuddin, who is 61, said he had known him for two decades and was the one who introduced him to party president Anwar Ibrahim because he was “the best