BOLD and straightforward to the point of being rude, Rafizi Ramli has never been known to shy from a fight.

However, political analysts believe the chartered accountant is what PKR and Pakatan Harapan (PH) need going into the next general election.

“He is still idealistic, although he has been out of politics for some time now,” International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM) political science lecturer Lau Zhe Wei said.

After listening to his first speech as PKR’s newly elected deputy president at the conclusion of the PKR congress earlier today, Lau said that Rafizi is one of those rare and unconventional politicians that dares to defy PKR president Anwar Ibrahim in the open and doesn’t play according to the rules.

Anwar has rarely faced open criticism within PKR, which to ordinary folk still appears a party obsessed with making him prime minister.

However, Rafizi has warned his party leader and PH chairman to heed survey findings that his popularity is waning.

He has also told the Port Dickson MP’s die-hard supporters to stop “apple-polishing” for their leader. The party’s focus, Rafizi said, should be on winning back voters.

While his predecessor in PKR, Mohamed Azmin Ali, was popular because he played by the rules of politics, Rafizi is the complete opposite, Lau said.

Unlike Azmin, Rafizi is saying all the “right things”, such as meritocracy in candidate selection and rejecting the big tent idea for the next election.

“Take the big tent issue for instance. What Rafizi is saying stands to reason. Many of PH’s supporters are voters who stand for principles and ideals, and although a grand coalition of opposition parties will help PH, they don’t want it,” Lau said.

On this score, Lau believes that Rafizi is right.

Rafizi’s rejection of the big tent idea is based on concerns that it will run the risk of betrayal again, like in the Sheraton Move in 2020, when Bersatu pulled out of PH to side with Barisan Nasional and PAS, ousting the PH federal government.

Rafizi has also warned that the big tent idea will cause PH to lose its voter base.

To a certain extent, Rafizi’s position on the big tent was also reflected in PKR’s central leadership committee (MPP) elections, where 13 of Rafizi’s candidates won 20 of the MPP seats.

Prior to voting for the MPP, Rafizi had urged PKR delegates to pick those from a list of 26 candidates he had endorsed, all of whom are also against the big tent idea.

Vision and energy

While Rafizi’s boldness can also be put down to recklessness, Universiti Malaya’s Prof Dr Awang Azman Awang Pawi said the former Pandan MP had some interesting ideas and the right energy for the job.

“PKR and PH have been quite down after 2020 when they lost the government. Since then, they have also lost and performed badly in four state elections: Sabah, Malacca, Sarawak and Johor.

“While the main PH leadership is still intact, it is lacklustre and seems to have lost its direction,” the Malay ethnic studies lecturer said.

Awang Azman believes that Rafizi could be just the right impetus for PKR and PH at the moment.

Besides the usual points about closing party ranks after the PKR polls, Rafizi made two suggestions during his first speech as the deputy president today.

The first was that the whole party should lodge police reports against former prime minister Najib Razak on Tuesday.

The second suggestion was that PKR should start its own co-operative to showcase its economic agenda.

On the Najib point, Rafizi said the convicted former prime minister was making too many statements and whipping up racial sentiments ahead of the elections.

“Don’t let him poison the public and play up racial politics. Every time he lies, we must lodge police reports,” Rafizi said.

He pointed out that Najib, who is appealing his conviction, was acting that way because the opposition had shifted its attention away from him.

That in turn has allowed the former Umno president to campaign for Umno openly and rebuild his reputation despite his conviction.

Rafizi’s style has always been to go on the offensive and his call to the party to focus on the enemy outside, and his caution to Anwar to heed his own drop in popularity, is reflective of that. – July 17, 2022.