PKR’S decision to drop Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) logo in favour of its own in the upcoming Johor polls may be a bad move electorally but it would allow the party to evaluate the leadership of Anwar Ibrahim, following crushing defeats in the Malacca and Sarawak polls last year.

Anwar last week announced that his party will use its own symbol – a “really bad” move, according to leading commentator on Malaysian politics James Chin.

The analyst said PKR has poor support in Johor and that its appeal is in an overall decline.

PKR won 14 out of the 56 seats in Johor in the 2018 general election (GE14), but lost half following political turmoil and defections due to the Sheraton Move in 2020. It held only seven seats before the dissolution of the state assembly.

The party also lost in all contested seats in the Malacca and Sarawak polls.

Chin said: “Anwar believes PKR has strong support in Johor and, therefore, can contest using its own logo. It does not (have strong support).”

“Anwar’s recent key moves seem to be wrong, with the best example being the Sarawak polls last month,” he said, referring to PKR’s decision to use its own symbol and its subsequent loss in all 28 seats contested.

The party contested under the PH banner in Malacca, where it also suffered a crushing defeat.

Johor will be a crowded field – with Muda, Parti Bangsa Malaysia, Pejuang and Warisan, and coalitions Barisan Nasional, Perikatan Nasional and PH, said the University of Tasmania Asian Studies professor.

Chin predicts PKR losing all contested seats or winning only up to two seats in Johor.

Overall, PKR is losing its lustre and Anwar has lost his political astuteness since PH was removed from federal power, he added.

Universiti Putra Malaysia’s Professor Jayum Jawan agrees that PKR lacks lustre now, but said the move to use its own logo will be a chance to test its popularity and “stand on its own two feet”.

“It is about time PKR tests its popularity (based on its own merits) and not based on the support from others.

“When PH won in GE14, it was not about Anwar or PKR; it was all about Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

“A party cannot rely on others to keep it going. It is time for PKR to stand on its own and test its true support among grassroots.”

PKR needs to be honest with itself, he added, is its popularity because of Anwar or the party itself?

“If it is Anwar, the party will continue to fall into oblivion with each successive election. If it is the party, then it needs to move forward without the man.

“The party must have a new set of leaders to carry on a new struggle that does not have Anwar as its main focus,” he said of PKR’s goal to make Anwar prime minister.

Universiti Malaya’s Associate Professor Awang Azman Awang Pawi said PKR should distance itself from PH following the latter’s fall from federal power after only two years and the preceding betrayal and failures that led to the fall.

“PKR does not want to be associated with that failure because Dr Mahathir is seen to have played a key role in subverting PH from within when he refused to hand Anwar the prime minister post.”

The Sheraton Move has scarred grassroots sentiments, who may want to be done with this ghost of the past, he added.

He said though the PKR symbol is familiar to many voters, using it while other PH components use the coalition’s symbol will be “a big test” for the party.

“It will determine which logo is more accepted by opposition supporters: PKR’s or PH’s.”

Sarawak PKR acting chairman Abang Zulkifli Abang Engkeh told The Malaysian Insight that the decision to use the party’s symbol is based on the “voice of the grassroots”.

Party leaders believe it is better for the party to use its logo in the Johor polls, so voters can “put the X beside the symbol they are familiar with, just like at GE14”, he added. – January 30, 2022.