PKR should not be boasting about implementing any reforms while in power as it had failed to do so, said former DAP leader P Ramasamy.

He said PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail should not lecture about the party converting its reforms to government policies.

“While it is alright for Saifuddin to lecture on the history of reform movements, he should find out why the reform movement initiated by PKR while in opposition has failed.

“It was alright for PKR leaders to ride on the reform movement to power. However, once in power, the very basis of governance has been forgotten.

“I think that Saifuddin should be having internal discussions with the current PKR leaders as to why they have failed to spearhead the reforms after taking political power,” said Ramasamy, who heads his own party now.

He slammed PKR for failing to adhere to the core principles of reforms in the country.

He also said that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who is PKR president, had been quiet on the necessity of reforms in the country.  

“His political regime is not different to earlier regimes that sought political sustenance on the basis of race and religion.

“If the present political coalition headed by Anwar is continuing with the Malay hegemonic order, then what far-reaching reforms are we talking about?”

The former Penang deputy chief minister said the present politics was not about undertaking reforms that were promised when in opposition but on how the coalition can stay in power.

“Saifuddin should not be lecturing about reforms when there are no reforms in the country.

“Anwar, the entire PKR leadership and DAP are a big disappointment to Malaysians hungry for reforms.

“As far as the government is concerned, reforms are virtually dead… they are only marked by occasional references to them in conferences and seminars,” he added.

He was referring to Saifuddin’s speech during PKR’s 25th anniversary celebration this morning that the party’s success was not to be gauged by its number of elected representatives but how it had translated its reformasi struggles into government policies.

“The party’s achievement and success should not be evaluated based on the number of ministers, menteris besar, state executive councillors, members of parliament and state assemblymen from PKR.

“This is not how we evaluate the performance of the party.

“The actual way to evaluate our performance is how we understand and translate our ‘reformasi’ struggles into (government) policies which will benefit the people,” said the home minister. – April 21, 2024.