Zahrain's departure a delusive gauge

comment Gauging the impact of Bayan Baru MP Zahrain Mohd Hashim’s departure from PKR - whether it is a harbinger of crisis in the party or a storm in a teacup - is complicated for a number of reasons.

Zahrain yesterday made good on an implied threat to leave, signaled a fortnight ago by his attack on Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng. He had since expanded the range of his attacks by including PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim as a target.

With the brazenness of those attacks, Zahrain has burned his bridges. His departure was confirmation of an alienation from PKR and Pakatan Rakyat too radical to be healed by mediation or corrected by disciplinary action.          

But Zahrain is a party lightweight, despite having being PKR chief for Penang for some years before he was replaced last October. His departure is not expected to have repercussions on, say, the strength of the Bayan Baru division for example.

In fact, the entire divisional committee, save its former chief, turned up at a press conference called last night in Zahran’s constituency, to vouch for their fidelity to the party and to express their disappointment.  

They pledged to stay with the party and called on Zahrain to resign as MP as a matter of honour.

Unreformed Umno in PKR

Another reason for a lack of concern over Zahrain’s departure is that he is considered ‘unreformed Umno in PKR’, which suggests he has the faults associated with the party of his allegiance (Umno) prior to his joining PKR in 2005.  

It was the struggle against these debilitating faults, captured in PKR’s rallying cry of reformasi – against nepotism, cronyism and corruption – that gave birth to the party in April 1999, following the sacking from Umno of Anwar Ibrahim and his jailing the previous September.

But to view Zahrain’s decision to quit PKR as more of a relief than a headache is to opt for a simplistic explanation of a complex phenomena.

Even if Zahrain is joined by MP for Kulim Bandar Baru Zulkifli Noordin ( right ), a crank, and Nibong Tebal MP Tan Tee Beng, a man whose dispositions are likely to land him in problems which make a political career a decidedly unsuitable avocation, their departures would be more purgative than punitive to the party.      

However, if this trio is joined by PKR MP for Wangsa Maju, Wee Choo Keong, then the haemorhage of MPs would have reached a serious pass.

This is not because Wee is a more credible exponent of PKR’s egalitarian ideals than his erstwhile northern-based colleagues, though he is certainly their better.

But seasoned opposition politicians are wary of him because of his past of conflict with the DAP and willingness to split opposition votes by soloing with the MDP (Malaysian Democratic Party). Still his expected departure, if it comes to that, would be damaging to PKR.

The Azmin problem

A year and half ago, Wee, already unhappy with his peripheral roles in the PKR circle of MPs, suggested to Anwar Ibrahim that he be nominated by the party for membership to Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee on the basis that he had past experience of parliamentary processes. It was a reasonable request.  

At that point in time, Wee, with Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, were the only PKR MPs, among 31 reps, with that experience. Anwar had no hesitation in approving the request but when the time came, party whip Azmin Ali nominated William Leong for the seat.

In matters like this, the ambitious Azmin is unable to see beyond the needs of building his base within the party, so placeman Leong was preferred to maverick Wee ( left ).

Leong’s new to Parliament and his past as corporate lawyer ill-suits him for a role in a watchdog committee charged with tooth combing public expenditure.

Anwar is often reluctant to baulk Azmin, which directly led to the crisis in the Sabah chapter of the party last October when party baron Jeffery Kitingan was relegated to the sidelines. Anwar was able to extricate himself from a highly avoidable crisis through compromise, to Azmin’s acute discomfort no doubt.

Between the maneuvers of Azmin ( right ) and those of that other archly parochial base builder within the party, Batu MP Tian Chua, PKR can only be heading for shriveling rather than strengthening.

Only Anwar, who has the guileful politician’s sly awareness of these faults in underlings and the skill to lever them to advantage when it suits his purposes, can check and forestall the machinations of the ultra territorially-minded in PKR.

But his distraction in a career-threatening court matter and his monomania – being numero uno in the country – combine to subvert his hold on a party his travails had engendered and on a movement of imperative reform his charisma alone can no longer sustain.