The rift between PKR president Anwar Ibrahim and his deputy Azmin Ali seems to have widened with the party’s congress in December looming in the horizon.
PKR vice-president Zuraida Kamaruddin said she will not be attending any party meeting until Anwar agrees to meet with her and several others who are aligned to Azmin, who is also Economic Affairs Minister.
Zuraida said effort has been made to reach out to Anwar but he has not responded to overtures for reconciliation.
She said those who want to meet Anwar included Azmin, two vice-presidents including herself, 14 central committee members and six others “who are from the other side”.
“Until and unless we meet the president until the meeting materialises, there will be no reconciliation,” Zuraida told reporters in Tanjung Tokong, George Town today.
Asked about the coming party congress in December, Zuraida merely dismisses the matter, saying “we will cross the bridge when we come to it”.
“We just want to seek clarification about certain issues as the public already knows we have a division of some kind, so we would like to also put in place a reconciliation plan,” she added.
Zuraida was in Tanjung Tokong to officiate at the joint annual general meeting of three divisions – Tanjung, Jelutong and Bagan.
Earlier, Zuraida urged party members not to misunderstand or misjudge her for not attending national party meetings.
She denied being quarrelsome or refusing to attend party meetings, saying: “I have the best records for attending meetings and I enjoy attending them”.
“I have my reasons for not attending the meetings, and I have very good reasons, so the president should meet with us and listen to our side of the story. What is wrong with that?” she asked.
Instead of meeting with the team, an unelected leader in the party, secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution, sends them a letter asking them to attend meetings, Zuraida said.
“If the president meets us, at least it would have shown how big-hearted he is,” she said.
Zuraida also said it was her responsibility to tell Anwar about “what is wrong” in the party.
“We have worked so hard for the party, 20 years, but we are being side-lined.”
“If I were lazy, I would just attend meetings and sign, but we worked so hard to get 50 seats at GE14. What has happened to our party?”.
She said if there were protests against housing issue, she would meet the protesters to resolve their problem.
“That is our style. So, what is wrong when we ask to meet with the president?”.
Zuraida said her team was not interested in toppling the president as they had agreed to let him lead the party.
“The president is still the president; if we had wanted to topple him, we would have done it earlier.”
“We just want reconciliation. We do not want a team Anwar or team Azmin.”
Zuraida said she has no choice but to continue seeking a meeting with Anwar.
“As long as I’m a minister, I will do my best as this post is God-given. If I lose the post, so be it”. – Malaysiakini