PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali has received orders from the party leadership to attend a meeting later in the day, party sources said.

They said the orders came from the top.

The political bureau will convene for the meeting at 5.30pm at the Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail’s office in Parliament.

Azmin’s continued absence from party meetings is believed to be due to a rift between him and the party president Anwar Ibrahim.

“He has been told to come to the meeting today. We will see if he comes,” said a source.

Others sources said Anwar would also take the opportunity afforded by Azmin’s presence to privately thrash out their differences which were tearing the party apart.

A source said the outcome of the private meeting could determine if the so-called “alternative” PKR congress planned by Azmin’s faction to rival the national congress in Malacca would go ahead.

Sarawak PKR deputy chairman Baharuddin Mokshen, however, told The Malaysian Insight that the “Kembali ke landasan reformasi” (Return to the roots of reform) congress will go ahead as scheduled.

He said the alternative congress, to be held on the same dates as the official event on December 7-8, would take place at Renaissance Hotel in Kuala Lumpur.

Sarawak PKR is generally behind Azmin. At last count, 19 of the 30 state’s division chiefs, 32 of the 46 of the state leadership council members, and seven of the nine elected representatives have shown themselves loyal to him.

Another source in Sarawak had earlier told The Malaysian Insight the majority of the state’s party leaders and delegates invited to attend the national congress are instead heading to the one in Kuala Lumpur instead as reconciliation was “near impossible”.

He said state leaders were still sore about the national leadership’s failure to respect the autonomy of Sarawak PKR.

He was referring to the November 23 state congress in Miri which the state leadership council had cancelled in protest over the youth wing’s breaking of tradition in not inviting Azmin to open this weekend’s youth congress in Malacca.

Pro-Azmin Sarawak leaders are said to blame Anwar for the snub, which they chalk up to an attempt  to undermine Azmin’s influence in the party.

“It’s bad. The situation is very bad. There doesn’t seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel,” the source said.

One of the contentious issues splitting Anwar and Azmin is reported to be the composition of the party’s central leadership council (MPP).

Azmin and some of his key supporters like vice-president Zuraida Kamaruddin and Sarawak chief Baru Bian, according to the source, refused to attend the MPP meetings, as they did not want to give the council legitimacy.

Thirty of the 44 MPP members are elected by poll and with the remaining 14 appointed by the party president.

After last year’s bitterly contested party polls, Azmin is believed to have 18 supporters on the council.

Anwar was accused of appointing 12 of his supporters to the council.

The source said Anwar had succeeded in tilting the balance of power in the council in his favour as he now had 24 members aligned to him compared with only 20 who are pro Azmin.

The source said this had led Azmin to claim that party decisions were now made by the non-elected members of the MPP. – December 4, 2019.