The PKR party elections were most disappointing. It laid bare the weaknesses within the party and within party politics in Malaysia.
Hardly any substantive issues were proposed and debated between the contenders.
Instead, the focus was on which faction one belonged to. And on that basis, the contenders campaigned, and their supporters cast their votes.
Things were moving smoothly – why elections now?
The elections revealed that the leader of the party, Anwar Ibrahim, who won his seat unopposed and who was not involved in any other particular election, was the major influencer on the outcome of all the contests.
Many of the candidates whom ordinary members voted for in the division elections were chosen on the basis of whether they were proxies of the great leader, or not. The delegates who were voted in to sit in the central leadership council (majlis pimpinan pusat or MPP), were chosen on the same basis.
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And so, the role of the ‘Big Man’ in Malaysian politics lives on, even in PKR, which was set up 26 years ago in 1998, in the womb of Reformasi.
Why did PKR go ahead with this round of internal party elections ahead of several state elections – in Sabah, Malacca, Johore and Sarawak – and the next general election?
Apparently, an incumbent PKR vice-president, Rafizi Ramli, had suggested that the party elections be delayed until after the next general election. This would allow the party to prepare for tough upcoming electoral contests.
Postponing party elections has been resorted to by other parties. It allows the party to prevent any internal squabble from spilling over, distracting and disorienting the preparations for general election contests.
Constitutionally speaking, PKR was required to hold its elections every three years. But this ruling could easily have been amended to five years, as Umno had done several years ago.
Or, if party elections had to be held for one or another reason, then, perhaps, the central leadership council could have ruled that there would be no contest for the top two positions of the party, as well as the top positions of the youth and women’s wings. Again, this would have prevented squabbles from coming to a boil.
Perhaps Rafizi had in mind the previous two contests for the deputy president’s post which he had been involved in.
In late 2018, Rafizi challenged Azmin Ali for the number two post and lost. It was a bitter contest which brought to the fore deep-seated differences between him and Azmin.
Not surprisingly, Azmin had sided with Dr Mahathir Mohamad in the post-May 2018 general election landscape. The PKR number two later left the party and joined Bersatu after the Sheraton coup in February 2020, bringing some of his supporters with him. A few others broke ranks with Azmin and remained with PKR. Alas, they were never trusted again and were not given seats to contest in the 2022 general election. Subsequently, several leaders, like then vice-president Tian Chua, were expelled.
The second contest for the PKR deputy presidency took place in 2022, just before the November general election. This time, Rafizi contested against Saifuddin Nasution Ismail for the deputy presidency – and won handsomely.
Although the contest was not as bitter as the previous one, it left wounds within the party. So, no one would have thought less of PKR if the party elections had been postponed until after the coming general election.
According to Iswardy Morni, a PKR podcaster and Rafizi supporter, a deal had been struck by the party’s central council to conduct elections. However, this would not be for the top two positions in the party, nor for the leadership of the women and youth wings. This arrangement held until March 2025.
When rumours circulated that the deal not to contest for the top two posts was off, Rafizi announced clearly he was defending his post. He intimated that this was to avoid internal conflicts that could upset the functioning of the “unity government”.
Why did this volte-face or about-turn occur? Was it because it suddenly dawned on Anwar that this was his third and final term? According to party regulations, he is ineligible to contest for the presidency or become prime minister after two terms. So, if he desired to assert his influence over the party, wouldn’t it be better for him to have someone like his daughter Nurul Izzah succeed him?
Suddenly, Nurul Izzah went for the post. She hinted it was because of yet another rumour that Rafizi was planning to quit the party or politics altogether. This would have resulted in a vacuum which she desired to fill, lest others attempted to do so.
Rafizi, reportedly, had moved his things out of his office.
But his supporters responded he had not moved anything out of his office. And that he had no plans to quit the party either!
Rafizi, in publicly responding to Nurul Izzah during the campaign, said if anyone had these misgivings of his intentions, they could have asked him directly. Why disturb a situation that was moving along smoothly, he asked.
Noisy Jelajah Hiruk vs Team Damai
In the event, it was not clear to many observers what, if any, issues separated Rafizi, 47, the grand strategist of the 2018 and 2022 general elections, from Nurul Izzah, 44, dubbed “Puteri Reformasi”. This was a title she acquired when both she and Rafizi were deeply involved in establishing PKR from its early years. In this sense, they shared many things in common, including loyalty to Anwar, who then was in and out of jail. Both helped Anwar’s wife Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Syed Husin Ali and other leaders to kickstart the party.
But Rafizi and Nurul did not debate policy differences between them this time around. There was no debate about how to restructure the economy, resuscitate the educational system and improve the health services, or about gender equality and other freedoms.
Perhaps the only item of significance that came to the fore in their hustings was that Nurul Izzah, this time around, criticised – gently, it must be clarified – Anwar’s re-appointment of Azam Baki, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission chief. On the other hand, Rafizi had persistently called for Azam’s removal even before the 2022 general election. Or was this a similarity, rather than a difference of opinion, between Rafizi and Nurul?
But clearly, disagreements had been emerging between Rafizi and Anwar. Whether Nurul Izzah sided with her father or agreed with Rafizi cannot be determined because she has not been in the public spotlight since the 2022 general election. Back then, she failed to win the Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat, which both her parents had contested and won in previous elections. So, she was not appointed to sit in the cabinet. Nor does the Hansard record any of her statements, as she has not been in Parliament these past few years.
So, there’s no report of Nurul Izzah publicly commenting on her father’s appointment of Umno president Zahid Hamidi as his deputy PM ahead of his own party deputy. Nor are there disclaimers about Zahid, Musa Aman, and other former Umno leaders who were granted “DNAAs” (discharges not amounting to acquittals). Or any comment when former PM Najib Razak’s sentence to serve time in jail was halved.
Recall that it was Rafizi who led the crusade against a series of corruption cases involving Umno-Barisan Nasional leaders. With Tony Pua and The Edge, Rafizi exposed the multi-billion ringgit 1MDB corruption scandal, which was initially shrouded in official secrecy. He also broke the “Cowgate” story, where state funds allocated for the National Feedlot Corporation were allegedly siphoned off for personal use.
For his efforts, Rafizi endured 16 court cases, including one for breaking the Official Secrets Act. This resulted in a three-year sentence for him, fortunately suspended.
In his campaign to defend the deputy president’s post, Rafizi visited nine locations, including Sabah and Sarawak. Significantly, his “Noisy Team” was named “Jelajah Hiruk”, short for the Hidupkan Idealisme Reformasi dalam Ujian Kuasa (Reviving the Idealism of Reform while in Power) roadshow.
During his campaigns, he would speak about his Ministry of the Economy work, including his completion of the 13th (five-year) Malaysia Plan. He discussed his proposal to introduce reforms in the educational system. He explained how he would continue to provide subsidies for the needy while increasing revenue for the government.
No, he didn’t talk about his attempt to launch Padu, which turned out to be a digital overreach, or his plan to remove petrol subsidies, which critics foresee will be topsy-turvy.
Rafizi also called for amendment to the party constitution. This would prevent party elections from clashing with general elections and disallow newbies who had not been members for at least five years from contesting party and general elections. In this regard, he proposed that the president should be stripped of the right to grant exceptions to newbies.
This was a criticism of how someone like R Ramanan, a former MIC treasurer who had recently joined PKR and endeared himself to Anwar, was given a choice constituency to contest in the last general election. More than that, Ramanan was subsequently appointed deputy entrepreneur development and co-operatives minister. He contested for one of PKR’s vice -presidents posts and won. He also openly endorsed Nurul Izzah against Rafizi.
Yet another newcomer who rose up the ranks quickly was Adam Adli, who was also given a seat to contest in the last general election. He then contested and emerged as head of Angkatan Muda Keadilan, the party’s youth wing.
So, too, one Amir Hussein from Sabah, who was given a seat to contest although he had a reputation for jumping parties. He was once in Umno, then Amanah before joining PKR. He was also one of Rafizi’s loudest critics in the run-up to this party elections.
In all these three cases, Anwar had granted the necessary exceptions. In his defence, he said he merely signed the approvals and had not carefully considered the matter. So, evidently, he was not against Rafizi’s proposed amendment.
Nurul, on the other hand, had not been in the cabinet and had not been involved in policymaking. But she had spent a period coordinating a secretariat which advised the finance minister, her dad.
In the latest party elections, her team, dubbed “Team Damai” (Dari Akar Membina Aspirasi Inklusif or From the Roots Building an Inclusive Aspiration), held rallies in seven locations, including in East Malaysia. Apparently, their campaign was relatively low key, hence ‘damai’ (peaceful), not ‘noisy’ like Jelajah Hiruk’s.
Despite the president proclaiming he was not taking sides, it was understood by ordinary PKR voters that Nurul Izzah was Anwar’s proxy. A vote for Nurul was a vote for Anwar.
Perhaps this is why Rafizi announced, about a week before polling, he could not win the contest. And he intimated, too, he would vacate his ministerial seat if that came to pass.
Allegations by Team Jelajah Hiruk emerged that their rivals had resorted to ‘money politics’ – for how else could they have got members to vote for Team Damai! These allegations picked up steam when Team Damai began winning the divisional seats, one after another, about a month ahead of the central council elections scheduled for 24 May in Johore Bahru.
This is the reason Jelajah Hirup questioned why no screen recording of the electoral process at the division level was allowed.
Alternatively, it may not have been money politics that reared its ugly head. It could simply have been support for the Big Man and his daughter, as so often happens in Malaysian and regional politics.
Central council elections
In the event, Nurul Izzah defeated Rafizi and was appointed deputy president. She won 9,803 (over 70%) of the votes cast while Rafizi won 3,866.
For the central committee level, 22,081 delegates were eligible to vote, of whom 13,752 actually did. This means only about 44% of the 22,081 eligible delegates actually voted for Nurul Izzah.
It also means 8,329 (38%) of all eligible delegates did not vote – even though they were allowed to vote either in person or online. What a large percentage of no-showers! Why didn’t they show up? Was it because they did not want to support either candidate? Was it a sign of protest?
The divisional elections held earlier give us a clue. In these elections, many of Rafizi’s supporters were unsuccessful in their bid to be re-elected to the leadership of their own divisions. They included Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad (Setiawangsa MP), Akmal Nasrullah Nasir (Johor Bahru MP), Rodziah Ismail (Ampang MP), Lee Chian Chung (Petaling Jaya MP) and Fahmi Zainol (Penang state assembly member for Pantai Jerejak). Only PKR vice-presidents Chang Lih Kang (Tanjung Malim MP) and Aminuddin Harun (Negri Sembilan chief minister) won their seats, apart from Rafizi himself, who won in Pandan without contest.
In the vice-presidents contest, only Chang and Aminuddin succeeded. Nik Nazmi and G Manivanan were unsuccessful. The other two vice-presidents elected were Amiruddin Shari and Ramanan, both allied with Nurul Izzah (or Anwar).
Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek was returned as head of the women’s wing, while Kamil Munim was elected youth chief unopposed. Both are keen Anwar supporters.
Accordingly, 17 out of 20 (85%) of all seats in the central leadership council went to Team Anwar.
Criticism surfaced that Dr Zaliha Mustafa, who was in charge of the party elections, Fuziah Salleh, the PKR secretary general, and perhaps Nurul Izzah herself were not aware of what was going on in the grassroots.
It has been alleged that the dalang di belakang tabir (the orchestrator behind the scenes) was actually Amirudin Shaari, the Selangor Menteri Besar. This one-time loyal supporter of Azmin, was now a full-time supporter of Nurul Izzah. Apparently, it was his way of endearing himself to the father.
Also apparently, it was part of Amirudin’s plan to oust Rafizi and position himself as close to the father-and-daughter as possible, and to succeed them when the time comes. It is expected Amirudin will inherit one of the two federal ministerial positions that have since been vacated by Rafizi and Nik Nazmi after they failed to win top party posts.
No doubt, the defeat of Rafizi and his resignation from the cabinet (plus that of Nik Nazmi, his loyal supporter) will result in PKR’s weakening.
Azlan Adnan MA, apparently an admirer, has posted a somewhat hagiographic piece on Rafizi, whom he regards as more of a “true reformist” than his mentor Anwar. He wrote:
Rafizi’s loss marks a sobering inflection point for PKR. By choosing Nurul Izzah – a symbol of continuity and family legacy – the party has signalled a pivot away from the disruptive but necessary reforms championed by Rafizi. This decision raises uncomfortable questions about the maturity of Malaysia’s party democracy… The grassroots voted for comfort. For familiarity, for lineage, and in doing so, they side-lined the one figure in their party who had both the brains and the bravery to propose a different path… Rafizi’s setback is a detour, not a dead end. His ideas remain alive, his integrity intact, and his constituency – not just voters, but reform-minded Malaysians – still behind him. Reform is wounded, yes – but not dead….
– Azlan Adnan MA “Rafizi Ramli’s defeat; A parallel to Khairy Jamaluddin’s political journey. What the fall of Malaysia’s brightest reformist says about party politics”
So, where do current political developments leave us? Let me unpack the PKR elections and other recent political developments by distinguishing between two types of politics.
Big P Politics and small p politics
“Big P Politics” refers to the realm of elections, the Constitution and law-making, income tax and the budget, the realm of Power and political parties, including internal party elections like PKR’s, held recently.
This Big P Politics was dominated by Umno-BN for over 60 years. The winners in Big P Politics end up with lots of Power and the opportunity to accumulate much wealth quickly.
But beware! Big P Politics is also accompanied by backstabbing, leapfrogging and deal-making without regard for principles. All this in order to come to Power, as in the Sheraton backdoor coup.
A more recent deal between the politicos was that between the PM and the current Umno leader, Zahid Hamidi. This allowed Zahid to be appointed deputy PM, despite his 27 charges of corruption. (He was subsequently granted a DNAA).
The “Madani” unity government headed by Anwar, with Zahid as his deputy and PKR at the core, is now located in the centre of Big P Politics.
On the other hand, “small p participatory politics” refers to politics which is conducted and evolving outside the political parties and outside the general elections held every four to five years. It suggests the emergence of an everyday and non-formal or ‘cultural’ form of politics occurring in between elections.
In Malaysia, small groups of people started forming NGOs – some registered, many not – from the 1970s onwards, after the May 13 racial riots in 1969.
One of them was our organisation, Aliran. We did not wait for elections to come around. We engaged with issues and problems as and when they popped up, in between elections. The focus was on specific causes like human rights abuses, including detention without trial under the infamous Internal Security Act (ISA).
In our articles, we opposed violence against women and stood up for gender equality. We protested against the establishment of a theme park up on Penang Hill. We challenged financial scandals involving political leaders. We defended Orang Asli rights, consumer rights, and the rights of urban pioneers and farmers facing forced evictions.
Alas, the growth of small p politics was nipped in the bud during Operation Lalang, the ISA crackdown on 27 October 1987. Some of those detained in October 1987 were well-known DAP leaders like Lim Kit Siang, Karpal Singh, P Patto and Lim Guan Eng. Other detainees included Pas leaders like Mohamad Sabu and Mahfuz Omar.
However, the majority of Operasi Lalang detainees had been active in small p politics. For example, Nasir Hashim was advocating for the rights of ‘squatters’ or peneroka bandar (urban pioneers). Br Anthony Rogers and Lim Chin Chin were Catholic church workers associated with its social justice arm, the National Office of Human Development. Cecilia Ng and Chee Heng Leng were active in the struggle for gender equality. Other detainees included Chinese educationalists like Kua Kia Soong, environmentalists and trade unionists.
Small p politics was given a fillip when Reformasi was unleashed after Anwar’s expulsion from Umno in 1998. Within two years, many of those involved in small p politics and in Reformasi, especially Anwar loyalists who had emerged from the Umno womb, helped to form Parti Keadilan Nasional. This party later merged with Parti Rakyat Malaysia, the old socialist party, to form Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) with Syed Husin Ali, a distinguished long-time scholar-activist, as the deputy to party president Wan Azizah.
Put another way, small p politics activists transited into the realm of Big P Politics. Or, to borrow veteran activist Hishamuddin Rais’ terms, we saw the “politik jalanraya” (street politics) of the small p groups becoming institutionalised to fight Big P “Politik Pilihanraya” (electoral politics).
Next, PKR formed a coalition with the DAP, still later with Pas (until the 2013 general election) and ultimately with that autocrat, Mahathir, who had been their foe and oppressor, and his Bersatu party. Their cooperation and deal-making led to a stunning victory in the 2018 general election. Together, they defeated the Umno-Barisan Nasional juggernaut for the first time since independence.
However, many in Malaysia, including those of us in Aliran, continued to focus on small p politics. We participated in the formation of a network of NGOs called Bersih, which principally demanded free and fair elections. Perhaps this network reached its zenith when it was led by former Bar Council president Ambiga Sreenevasan and Pak Samad Said, the national literary laureate. Bersih was not seeking to become a political party to contest the elections. But it collaborated with PKR and other opposition parties.
Also emerging around this time was Hindraf, which advocated for the rights of Hindu practitioners, and Malaysia’s environmental movement, which organised Himpunan Hijau (green rallies).
Put another way, this realm of small p politics peaked during these years. Through Bersih, a popular demand for free and fair elections grew among the people. A related call was for the restoration of local government elections and a broader rebuilding of a better Malaysia.
Many will recall how we helped to organise demonstations or participated in town hall meetings. It was a time when people readily took to the streets to protest against Umno-BN’s abuse of power and corruption.
The NGOs demanded good governance, accountability and transparency. They opposed corruption and cronyism. They advocated for gender equality and protection of women. They called for social justice for Orang Asli and the peneroka bandar, for sustainable development, for minimum wage legislation, for improvement and protection of the public health system. They demanded reform of our schools and even the preservation of our cultural heritage, the arts and music. I also remember initiatives to reach out to people of other religious backgrounds and promote interfaith dialogue.
Social media was widely used to amplify our small p politics. It was an unprecedented ferment of civil society in Malaysia. The momentum had started with Reformasi.
This kind of small p politics is commonplace in post-Marcos Philippines, in post-Reformasi Indonesia, and in Thailand, where military coups occur from time to time. Confronted by military and authoritarian rule, Big P electoral Politics got short-circuited in these neighbouring states often. Consequently, the NGOs and civil society organisations there have mobilised against military and autocratic rule NOT through Big P Power Politics but through small p participatory politics. Thousands of civil society organisations or NGOs exist in these neighbouring countries and have been active since the 1970s.
In Malaysia, by comparison, the formal electoral process has operated without disruption. But the process was dominated by the ethnic-based political parties of Umno-BN for six decades. That entire system reeked with money politics.
There is very little evidence that the Madani unity government led by Anwar with PKR as the core party has moved away from the ethnic-determined and patronage-riddled process associated with the Umno-BN coalition.
We must double-down on PKR and Anwar to restore the idealism of a New Politics characterised by increased democratic participation, multi-ethnic cooperation and reform of our educational and health systems.
From this perspective, the outcome of PKR’s recent elections makes little difference to those of us demanding reforms. Yes, we still prefer this PKR-led unity government to the existing alternative possibilities. But is it time to think aloud about an alternative?
For that, we need to relaunch our small p political initiatives. We can only succeed in the Big P Politics arena, if our small p politics for social reform, inclusiveness and participatory democracy remains active, vibrant and strong.
Small p politics must re-inject itself into Big P politics as in the height of the Reformasi movement.
Francis Loh
Co-editor, Aliran newsletter
4 June 2025
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