KUALA LUMPUR – Recently, former Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli revealed that a simulation exercise conducted during the Johor state election showed almost 40,000 voters who were previously sitting on the fence were shifting their support to Barisan Nasional (BN) and Perikatan Nasional (PN).
Worried about such a trend, Rafizi finally decided to return to the political stage and confirmed that he would contest for the post of PKR deputy president in the next party election.
PKR will hold elections for its leadership posts for the period 2022 to 2025, from May 13 to 18.
The re-emergence of Rafizi, a former PKR vice-president, has actually been awaited by many. From supporters of Pakatan Harapan (PH), especially PKR, to ordinary citizens, there have been expectations of him to return to the political arena.
Jamaie Hamil, a senior lecturer of political science at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, regards Rafizi’s reappearance as giving new light to PH in facing the upcoming 15th general election (GE15).
He said the move can bring voter support of those who were neutral or undecided on PH.
“His presence is very welcome now, at a time when the opposition’s performance is declining,” he said.
“The emergence of Rafizi may be able to impede this changing momentum.
“After all, he was among the figures who contributed greatly to PH’s success in winning the 14th general election (GE14, in May 2018)," Jamaie said in an interview with Getaran, the Malay-language sister portal of The Vibes.
He added that Rafizi can even be positioned as PH’s “poster boy” in GE15 due to his unique persona. This is because he is one of those who dared to expose “hot” issues, even when he was forced to go to court as a result.
“When he raises an issue, he is able to show evidence and dares to bring these to the courts. In short, he dares to take on big challenges that await,” he said.
Reforms, new strategies cannot be undertaken alone
However, Jamaie stressed that Rafizi cannot go alone in carrying out reforms for PH, especially in PKR, if the coalition is keen to draw voters back to its side.
He stressed that some of Rafizi’s ideas are “futuristic”.
However, if he is the only one pursuing new strategies and there are no voices or contributions from others in the coalition, then BN’s momentum will continue to eat away at PH in GE15, he said.
At the same time, he sees Rafizi as a suitable candidate to fill the position of PKR deputy president to replace Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali, who was sacked following the Sheraton Move, which overthrew the PH government in 2020.
“Rafizi was one of the most influential and important figures in the GE14 campaign. The only thing is that he did not contest then.
Perhaps at that time, it was to ease the heat in the PKR leadership, because Azmin Ali was there, and it was important to avoid conflict within the party then.
“But in the upcoming election, I think Rafizi has an opportunity to stand out and rise in the party. This is because PKR is already looking for someone to take over from Azmin, who was considered to have had a big influence in the party,” he said.
Nurul Izzah ideal to lead party
Asked about who would be the most suitable candidate to lead PKR as its president, Jamaie opined that Nurul Izzah Anwar deserves to replace the hot seat held by her father, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
“She is a young woman in Malaysian politics. Like it or not, we have to accept the fact that her lineage or social standing makes people easily accept her.
“In fact, she has been in politics for a long time, since 1999. So there is no reason not to highlight her background. It’s just whether she is willing to take over her father’s place or not. This depends on her,” Jamaie said.
In fact, he added, Anwar’s wife, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, was not suited to fill the post of president in the past due to her age.
“Nowadays, people want the youth (to lead). So maybe Nurul Izzah is still considered among the young ones, even though she is over 40 years of age.
“She is one of the most well-known and most suitable figures, in my opinion,” he said. – The Vibes, March 26, 2022
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