LETTER | Back when Malaysia was effectively a one-party state, it was said that the Umno party election was more important than the general election.

Whoever became the Umno president was guaranteed to be the prime minister of Malaysia. Such is the importance of the ruling governing party. 

When PKR held elections on Friday night, there were some members trying to argue that this was merely a party matter.

At best, this was naïveté; at worst, it was an attempt to gaslight the public. To distract them from the importance of it, or, perhaps, the sinister implications it will have.

At PKR’s national congress, Nurul Izzah Anwar, party president Anwar Ibrahim’s daughter, ousted incumbent deputy president Rafizi Ramli.

In an instant, Malaysia became one of the few countries in the world where the president and deputy of the ruling party were also father and daughter - at the same time!

The same party that used to champion meritocracy and looked down at the patronage of Umno was going back on its word.

Unfortunately, since assuming power, this hasn’t been the first (or last) time that PKR has gone back on its word. Friday’s results are part of a broader regression towards the status quo.

In some ways, this feels worse than 1998, when Anwar was sacked as deputy prime minister. For that very same person, who championed reformasi for a quarter of a century, has tacitly approved this political manoeuvring.

He spent more time at the congress defending his inaction on political reform than committing to it. From the contract extension of MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki to, more shockingly, his defence of politicians in high-profile GLC posts.

The fact that the Umno Youth chief came out in agreement poses a serious question: is PKR any different to Umno? 

As the saying goes, if you want to test a man’s character, give him power. In Anwar’s quest for power, we never asked if he would pass that test. The alternative was always seemingly worse.

Now that he wields power, it is difficult to say he has done even remotely well. You can take the man out of Umno, but you can’t take Umno out of the man. 

It draws an even more terrifying conclusion. That, after all this, the Grand Old Man might have been right.

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad saw that naked ambition in Anwar and felt the country didn’t need that. We can debate the methods, but the fact that this thought resonates speaks volumes.

With a compromised prime minister, where should Malaysians turn to?

Whilst politics is polarising, there has been a subtle unity over the weekend. The rakyat, not the 30,000 delegates in PKR, overwhelmingly voiced their support for Rafizi.

They were appalled by the PKR election, disgusted by the treatment of Rafizi, and want true change. It’s as if, almost overnight, Rafizi has become the true face of reform. 

He is the first politician, so close to being prime minister, who willingly resigned as a minister.

When many asked him to stay on, Rafizi chose principles over power, arguing that he shouldn’t hold a cabinet post without a senior party position.

Can you imagine Anwar or former minister Khairy Jamaluddin doing that in their prime?

Rafizi resonates with the rakyat because he was never in politics for the positions, but for the possibilities of Malaysia being more progressive and prosperous.  

The trouble with Anwar’s move to cull Rafizi is that it prioritised the short-term over the long-term.

The next general election is at most two and a half years away. And with PKR’s unwillingness to confront hard truths, their tanking popularity is unlikely to stop.

There’s a silver lining opportunity for the rakyat to remove PKR from power, forcing both president and deputy president to resign from their positions. It would simultaneously remove the Anwar family and set the stage for a Rafizi return. 

More importantly, it would finally allow Malaysia to have its first prime minister without any Umno baggage.

Maybe only then, Malaysians will finally see the reform we deserve.

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