[UPDATED] I’m vocal, but I’m certainly no Azmin: Rafizi

SHAH ALAM – Despite his outspokenness, newly minted PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli assured the party that he would never betray its leader, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. 

The former Pandan MP also said he does not have a knack for sweet-talking and can be vocal and harsh in his criticisms, but he is nothing like former PKR deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali.

“I want to say this to Anwar. I may be ‘lantang’ (vocal), but I am no Azmin Ali.

“I have already proven to you (delegates) that I am not interested in any ministerial posts or other positions,” he said during his winding-up speech at the PKR national congress held in the Ideal Convention Centre (IDCC), here, this afternoon.

Azmin fled the party for Bersatu in 2020, bringing along 10 MPs with him and causing an exodus among a sizable portion of PKR grassroots members

Although deemed a “troublemaker” by certain party leaders, Rafizi assured them he would not make promises to Anwar, only to end up “backstabbing” him.
“Dear party president, I am not the type who can sweet talk in front of you but stab you in the back after,” he told Anwar during the speech.

“I have not promised to break prison walls and free him (points at Anwar) when he was in jail, but tried to negotiate to become a prime minister candidate behind his back.

“I may not put Anwar on a pedestal but I hope that I will not be judged for my consistency in working for the party.” 

In 2011, Azmin – who was then PKR deputy president - pledged to free Anwar if the party leader was imprisoned again by vowing to “rise to break through the cruel walls of prison to free him.” 

Anwar, at that time, was facing a sodomy trial for the second time and was sent to serve a 20-year prison sentence in 2015, before finally receiving a royal pardon three years later.  – The Vibes, July 17, 2022