COMMENT | PKR has nominated for the post of menteri besar of Selangor Dr Idris Ahmad, their state assemblyperson for Ijok, who is 70 years old.

He is an obstetrician and gynaecologist - a good one it is believed, with a practice in a leading private medical facility in the Klang Valley.

But like many expert practitioners of prescribed specialities, he apparently can't seem to make the transition to "generalist", which is what good politicians ought to become.

A generalist develops and proceeds from a coherent worldview which he/she then applies, with imagination and flair, to any issue or subject matter.

Over a period of time, that coherence jells to render the holder a whole thinker, able to articulate concerns that project him/her as a someone of consistent advocacy, backed by the practice of works consonant to their worldview.

In PKR that worldview would see its exponent defend democratic principles in politics and be for social democratic policies in economics.

In short, they would be against nepotism, cronyism, and corruption which was the party's rallying cry when it was formed in the ferment that accompanied Anwar Ibrahim's sacking and jailing in the late 1990s.

These days sections of the party seem to have forgotten the ideals that drove their formative years, as can be seen by the attempt to nominate Idris for MB of Selangor.

As far as could be inferred from Idris' first term (2013-2018) as PKR state rep for Ijok, he did not seem to have the hallmarks of a generalist.

His principal concern during his first term as a PKR state rep was the behaviour of monkeys in Ijok.

He would raise the matter at practically every session of the state legislature. He appeared so smitten with simian behaviour in his constituency. He insisted he intended to keep on raising the issue.

Residents of his constituency were not amused; they tried to raise their specific concerns with their rep, but Idris was peculiarly focused on the behaviour of monkeys.

Menteri Besar Azmin Ali (photo) was worried enough by this eccentricity to detail G Sivamalar, a lawyer of rising prominence in the women's wing of PKR, to stake out the constituency in case Idris' simian-fixated distractions reared to electorally-threatening heights.

Azmin was an energetic MB who led a chapter of PKR that had trailed its coalition partners, DAP and PAS, in the number of elected reps in the state assembly.

He reckoned he could not afford to lose Ijok in GE14 and so Sivamalar, who had been making a name for herself in child custody battles between estranged or divorced parents wherein a spouse converts the children to another religion, was assigned to familiarise herself with Ijok's voters.

Unofficially, she became what is, in campaign parlance, called “penyelia” (constituency coordinator) for Ijok. Of course, her presence was not welcomed by incumbent Idris.

PAS gambit did not succeed

In spite of his fixation with monkeys and the deluge of complaints from residents over his neglect of a rep's duties to them, Idris was safe from being upended.

As a strong supporter of Invoke, the popular and effective fundraising electoral vehicle that was the brainchild of PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli, Idris could afford to be complacent.

In the run-up to GE14, a PKR rep or potential nominee was safe if he or she was a supporter of Invoke. Rafizi would make sure they were fielded or renominated.

The composition of the PKR candidate slate for GE14 was the focus of an intense battle between Rafizi (photo) and party deputy president Azmin who were leaders of the two factions that have riven the party from the time Azmin won in September 2014 in the battle to succeed the out-of-favour incumbent, Khalid Ibrahim, as Selangor MB.

PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim had myopically pushed for his wife, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, to be the MB, in the face of opposition from coalition partner PAS and the reservations of the Selangor palace.

Azmin was the preference of the latter two quarters as MB.

After a shrewdly positioned Azmin won that battle, he proceeded to consolidate his position in the party and within the opposition coalition with a popular programme of governance called Peduli Rakyat (Prioritising People).

Its efficacy was validated in GE14 when opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan won 51 of the 56 seats in Selangor, a remarkable achievement in the teeth of a renegade PAS' determination to three-corner the fight in practically all the seats, in a transparent attempt to enable Umno to win back the country's richest state.

The PAS gambit did not succeed. The party receded from 15 seats it won in GE13 to a single one in GE14.

Azmin's effective governance, Dr Mahathir Mohamad's magnetism among Malay voters and DAP's spiralling popularity – all combined to leverage Harapan to a decisive win in the richest state in Malaysia.

Factional battles are endemic to democratic political parties.

A wise leadership would regard factions as a given and endeavour to coopt and lever them to party-unifying endeavour rather than polarise or, worse, bludgeon them into defeat.

Neither Wan Azizah nor Anwar possess the former inclination or skill; they are too insecure to allow rival centres of power to develop in PKR.

Hence Wan Azizah's nomination of Idris, basically a Rafizi flunkey, for the MB post in Selangor which will be vacated by incumbent Azmin, who has been chosen to head the Economic Affairs Ministry under Mahathir's premiership of the federal government.

Idris was swift to tell the press that he was the only nominee for the post of MB. It was a gaffe that typified the man.

It is well known the Selangor palace insists on a list of three nominees for MB. Besides Idris, one nominee is bound to be Azmin's.

An intriguing battle is on the cards, not just for MB of Selangor but also in the party elections to come in August.

PKR is the strongest party in the federal and state arenas, with 47 MPs and 67 state assemblypersons.

But it is the weakest party when it comes to managing factional strife - a democratic given.

TERENCE NETTO has been a journalist for more than four decades. A sobering discovery has been that those who protest the loudest tend to replicate the faults they revile in others.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.