Just days before PKR congress, Youth leaders demand no-confidence vote against Anwar

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 1 — The rift within PKR appears to be widening just days before the party’s crucial annual convention, with several of its Youth wing leaders now demanding that a vote of no-confidence be called against president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

They are Lembah Pantai Youth vice-chief Nazrin Idham Razali and Lembah Pantai committee members — Mohd Nur Fadli Omar, Mohd Faizal Yahya and Muhammad Yazid Mohamad Salleh. All these leaders are aligned with PKR deputy president Datuk Seri Azmin Ali’s faction.

In a joint statement, the Youth leaders claimed that Anwar was undermining the party’s own reform agenda amid attempts to kick out leaders who were perceived as not being supportive of his leadership.

“Initially, there were attempts to force the deputy president (Azmin) and vice-president Zuraida Kamaruddin to resign. Then the disciplinary board took extreme action by sacking senior MPP (central leadership committee) leader Zakaria Abdul Hamid only on suspicion of graft.

“Then the elected permanent Youth chairman and his deputy were unceremoniously sacked using the unacceptable excuse of age limit although they were within the eligible age limit during the wing elections last year,” the group said, pointing out that  20 leaders had submitted a memorandum to the party disciplinary committee, protesting the unjust sacking of Zakaria.

The group accused Anwar of being focused on his personal agenda of becoming the next prime minister.

“We propose a vote of no-confidence against Anwar.

“Rash actions taken by Anwar and his team should be rendered null and void, as 20 MPP members had protested against their recent decision to sack Zakaria,” the group said.

PKR communications director and PKR Lembah Pantai division chief Fahmi Fadzil has however debunked the alleged bid for a vote of no confidence against Anwar, stressing that no such motion has been approved by PKR Lembah Pantai Youth at its annual general meeting and that Nazrin himself had not attended such meetings.

Fahmi also argued that the entire statement by Nazrin to propose such a vote of no confidence could not be trusted, as one of the alleged co-signees — Faizal — had clarified that his name was included in Nazrin’s statement without his knowledge or consent.

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