THE election of Rafizi Ramli as PKR deputy president and the sweeping changes in the party’s top leadership are unlikely to change the party’s fortunes in Sarawak in the general election, analysts said.

PKR will still get the battering it did in the last Sarawak elections, the pundits predicted.

In the state polls in December 2021, Sarawak PKR was allocated 47 seats by the opposition Pakatan Harapan (PH) bloc to contest but only fielded 28 candidates in seats that state PKR leadership council secretary Joshua Jabeng had described as “seats that we are confident we can win”.

The confidence was misplaced as the party did not only fail to win a single seat, it had to suffer the ignominy of seeing their acting president Abang Zulkifli Abang Engkeh lose his deposit in the fight for the coastal Malay-majority seat of Beting Maro.

Abang Zulkifli polled only 765 votes in a four-way fight for the seat that was won comfortably by Gabungan Parti Sarawak’s Razaili Gapor who polled 3,769 votes for a 1,711-vote majority.

Universiti Malaya’s Awang Azman Awang Pawi and University of Tasmania’s Asia expert James Chin said Sarawak PKR was suffering from a leadership issue.

It lacks a strong leader of the stature of Baru Bian, they told The Malaysian Insight, in reference to the Selangau MP who was sacked for his part in the Sheraton Move – a political manoeuvring that led to the collapse of the 22-month old Pakatan Harapan federal government in 2020.

Baru had largely been credited for making the party a political force to be reckoned with, which they showed by winning three seats in the 2011 Sarawak election and retaining them in the following 2016 election.

Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) political expert Lee Kuok Tiung said since Baru’s sacking, PKR had yet to find someone “whom party supporters can respect”, who could replace Baru.

After Baru was sacked, Julau MP Larry Sng was appointed to take over but that too was short-lived as Sng, a perennial party hopper, dumped PKR to go independent and support the ruling Perikatan Nasional federal government.

PKR, Lee said, does not need a “parachute leader” like Sng.

The party then appointed Abang Zulkifli to the post.

GPS too strong=

The recent appointment of the Hulu Rajang division chairman Abun Sui Anyit to the central leadership council muddied the Sarawak PKR leadership even further as the more “senior” leaders, Abang Zulkifli and Miri MP Michael Teo, found themselves without a place in the party’s highest decision-making body.

“They don’t seem to agree who should be their top leader,” Chin summed it all up.

Lee said even in their hour of need, it was very unlikely PKR would approach Baru to return.

“We all know who fired him,” Lee said, alluding to party president Anwar Ibrahim.

Lee said not only would it be “a bit awkward for the two of them to work together again” after what happened, it would also make PKR look “very desperate”.

He said he sees Sarawak PKR “getting worse” even though Rafizi may have brought a whiff of change to the party.

Awang Azman said he could not see PKR picking itself up from the December polls drubbing as GPS is “simply too strong”.

“It’s extremely difficult for PKR to regain lost ground unless GPS is sabotaged from within,” he said.

Both Awang Azman and Chin said the party had not reconstituted its “battered election machinery” as a result of the sacking of its key leaders and the departure of their supporters.

“GPS not only has a formidable, tried and tested election machinery, they have a war chest PKR just cannot match,” Awang Azman said.

Faced with such difficulties, Awang Azman said PKR’s chance to win a seat in Sarawak, or even retain what they had in the general election was akin to “fielding Rafizi in Besut, Terengganu”.

Chin said PKR’s sole MP left in Sarawak, Teo “might even lose his seat”, adding that the party is in a “very, very difficult” situation.

“They have lost the momentum to GPS in the state election; they have no strong leader and their election machinery is in shambles.”

He said it was very difficult to see them make the necessary changes “unless they can get their act together” and find enough time to work on them.

“My prediction … If the election is held this year, it (will be another ) disaster (for PKR). Since their disastrous outing last year until now, I have not seen any changes, I have not seen major moves on the ground.

“They can’t get their act together.”

To pile on PKR’s woes, Chin said state-based Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) - where Baru had taken most of his supporters - had taken some areas where PKR once had influence.

He said with voters shifting their support to parties advocating state nationalism, things “would be even worse” for the peninsula-based PKR. – July 30, 2022.