PETALING JAYA: There is nothing wrong in forming a team to contest in the PKR elections as long as the candidates adhere to stipulated regulations, said PKR vice president N Surendran.
In an interview with FMT, Surendran said that all leaders have his own approach and it was up to them on which platform they want to take up for their campaign trail.
“Saifuddin (Nasution) is joining hands with Rafizi (Ramli) and Nurul (Izzah Anwar). Azmin (Ali), on the other hand, is riding on the Keadilan Raya theme.
“I don’t see anything wrong in it. As long as there is no money politics, name calling or any other abusive methods used, I don’t see a problem,” he said.
PKR is set to hold its party polls on May 11. All eyes are now on who would win the PKR deputy presidency after Wan Azizah Wan Ismail retained the presidency uncontested.
Apart from Azmin and Saifuddin, Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim is also contesting for the powerful post. Also in the race is a lesser known party member, K Ramachandran.
Whether he is aligned to any of the team, Surendran replied in the negative, saying that he was contesting for the vice presidency on his own .
However, Surrender said that he had no time to focus on his campaign as he was tied up with court cases, particularly involving PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy case appeal at the Federal Court.
Surendran added that the tragic passing of Anwar’s lead counsel, the late Karpal Singh, has left a huge vacuum in the former’s legal team, triggering co-counsels to work twice as hard.
“I’m leaving it to party members to decide based on my track record,” said the Padang Serai MP.
‘I will fight to obliterate BN’
On what he has to offer if he wins the PKR vice presidency post, Surendran said that he would continue to champion’s the party’s ideals on multi-racialism and a just society for Malaysians.
“I cannot afford to give dinners to get people’s support. All I can say is that I will vigorously fight Barisan Nasional (BN) until it is politically obliterated in the general election.
“As former British prime minister Winston Churchill said during World War 2, ‘I can only offer my blood, sweat, tears and toil to the cause.’ That is what I have to offer,” said Surendran.
Touching on Anwar’s sodomy case and the possibility of the former being jailed, Surendran said that it would be politically suicidal for Umno to put the former deputy prime minister behind bars.
He said that neither Anwar’s influence in PKR nor the party’s role in national politics would diminish by such action.
“Even Turkey’s prime minister (Recep Tayyip) Erdogan was in jail when his party won the general election (in the 90s).
“So inside or outside prison, Anwar will continue to remain as a unifying force for PKR and Pakatan Rakyat,” said Surendran.
He added that PKR has successfully created a second tier leadership to take over from Anwar.
“Not having Anwar around will surely be a loss but PKR will survive. We have the likes of Azmin, Rafizi and Nurul to take us further. They went through hell for their struggles too.
“So we do have other tough leaders within our ranks to take on the corrupt BN,” said Surendran.