A crisis is brewing in PKR Kedah as a result of the party leadership's alleged preference for high-profile and wealthy individuals.

Its Baling division, which had some 1,000 members, was dissolved last week and nine other branches in the state are expected to do the same soon.

According to former PKR Baling chief Radzi Md Lazim, the top leaders have allegedly sidelined those at the divisional level who have been part of the struggle since the party's inception in 1999.

He said the nine divisions are "just waiting" to be dissolved as this matter was discussed even before the PKR national congress last month.

"We object the attitude of the top leaders, including party advisor Anwar Ibrahim and president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who have not cared about the divisions for a long time," he told malaysiakini today.

There are 15 divisions in Kedah and a sizeable number of these are strong supporters of former PKR treasurer Abdul Rahman Othman.

Radzi said the Baling division was dissolved when some 90 percent of its committee members resigned and many quit the party last week.

"We do not agree with Anwar's style of giving priority to a certain group, especially corporate leaders, in the leadership although they lack experience and never mix with the people," he added.

Ijok - glaring example

Radzi said this did not happen when Anwar was in prison, but things changed when he was released and made party advisor.

"Corporate people were brought into the party one after another. These people never go to the ground and the grassroots feel sidelined.

"A glaring example is Anwar choosing Khalid Ibrahim, a corporate heavyweight close to him, to contest in the Ijok by-election," he added.

In the April 28 contest for the Selangor state seat, Khalid was defeated by Barisan Nasional candidate K Parthiban with a 1,850 vote majority.

Meanwhile, Radzi said he had tried in vain to meet Anwar numerous times to explain to him the situation on the ground.

However, he claimed that the party advisor was "too busy and had no time" to discuss the matter.

"I don't think the people will accept PKR any more. The coming general election will see the party suffering an even worse fate than in the previous (2004) polls," he said.

In the last general election, the opposition party only won one parliamentary seat - Permatang Pauh, which is held by its president. It did not win a single state seat.

Different version

Contacted later, PKR Kedah liaison chief Johari Abdul had a different version.

According to him, the Baling branch had been de-registered by the Registrar of Societies (ROS) for failing to hold its meetings.

Following this, he said PKR Kedah set up a temporary committee and requested Radzi to hold the meetings in order for the branch to be re-registered.

However, he claimed that Radzi had failed to hold the meetings and therefore there was no ground to the assertion that the branch was dissolved.

He said five other divisions - Sik, Pendang, Jerlun, Padang Terap dan Pokok Sena - are also in the same boat.

He added that of the 15 divisions in Kedah, only nine have obtained the green light from the ROS while the rest are operating on a pro-tem basis.

Responding to this, Radzi expressed surprise over Johari's remarks. He said three months ago, Johari had personally come to Baling to officiate the forming of the Youth wing.

He also denied that the Baling division was de-registered by the ROS.

"We have sent reports on our activities to the PKR Kedah office, except for the past five or six months because there were not many activities."