THEY may be bitter rivals now in the showdown for the PKR No. 2 post, but Mohamed Azmin Ali and Rafizi Ramli will close ranks after the party polls, said former deputy president Dr Syed Husin Ali.

He said he is confident the contest between incumbent Azmin and vice-president Rafizi will not split PKR or cause the loser to quit the party.

“People are saying Azmin will leave PKR if he fails to defend his post. Some say if Rafizi loses, there will be a split in PKR.

“I don’t believe such talk. No matter which one of them loses, they will still work with each other again,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Syed Husin, who is now in the PKR political bureau, was responding to talk that those challenging Azmin for the deputy presidency would end up leaving the party.

He said the contest this time should not be compared with the challenge Azmin faced from Zaid Ibrahim and Abdul Khalid Ibrahim years ago.

Zaid, a former Barisan Nasional and Umno leader and minister, had joined PKR and challenged Azmin for the deputy president’s post in 2010. He lost, and claimed there were discrepancies in the election process.

He subsequently quit the party.

Azmin went on to succeed Syed Husin as deputy president that year.

In 2014, former Selangor menteri besar Khalid lost when he ran against Azmin. Khalid was sacked from PKR three months later for refusing to step aside and allow president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail to replace him as menteri besar in the controversial Kajang move.

“The problem with Zaid was, he wanted to contest the deputy president’s post when he was still a newbie in PKR,” said Syed Husin, who also heads the party’s objection, appeal and disciplinary committee.

“He thought if Anwar Ibrahim ended up in jail, he could take over as president. When he didn’t get what he wanted, he left the party.

“With Khalid, his departure from PKR was not because he was challenged by Azmin, but because he had done some things that were against the party.

“In the end, he was sacked. That’s the difference.”

The rhetoric Rafizi’s teammates have used in his campaign has unsettled some grassroots members. His camp has said only the former Pandan MP can ensure Anwar becomes the next prime minister, and has painted Azmin as being disloyal to the president-elect.

Syed Husin, however, said members voting in the PKR polls have the opportunity to shape the party’s future and help it become more mature.

The former Universiti Malaya sociology and anthropology lecturer urged members to be wise, and not vote based on emotions.

“Members have to speak up against what they think is wrong, not stay silent and accept things.”

He said members should voter for a deputy president who works for the party and Malaysians in general, and not for his own gain.

“Don’t go for someone who only lifts himself with pride. The deputy president has to be an effective assistant, someone who can work for the benefit of the party.”

Some 800,000 PKR members will vote in the party elections, which kick off in Penang and Kedah today, and will be conducted in stages, according to state. The polls end on October 28 with balloting in Sabah. – September 22, 2018.