The two-day PKR retreat at a hotel in Shah Alam kicked off today with meetings and workshops well underway.

The retreat started at 3pm and saw about 30 party supreme council members as well as MPs and state assemblypersons gathered, for the intense much-needed discussions on the party’s future.

However, notable no-shows include Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim - who has just returned from Washington DC delivering a lecture on democracy at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars - and secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution.

Feuding personalities Selangor MB Khalid Ibrahim was not there at the start of the session but Gombak MP Azmin Ali was at the event.

The main agenda for the retreat, which is held behind closed doors, will discuss a wide range of issues.

suhakam chinapress memorandum 130106 latheefa koya Information chief Latheefa Koya ( right ) said that five working papers will be presented, with a special focus on the Selangor administration, specifically on finding a way for the party to “channel output” into the state government.

Meanwhile, deputy secretary-general Sharifah Shahidah said that the top issue is preparations for the upcoming general elections.

Many of the PKR leaders have also commented on Twitter that retreat will be a “training workshop” for the upcoming party polls set to take place at the end of this year.

“At PKR 'retreat' on new party elections rules, (regulations) for first direct elections later this year,” tweeted Wanita information chief Elizabeth Wong.

pakatan retreat wan azizah wan ismail The party is poised to undertake the Herculean task of implementing direct elections among its 400,000 members to fill the 26 party posts up for grabs.

The meeting kicked off at 3pm before taking a break at 4.30pm. After that, the participants broke into three groups and discussion is to continue in three separate rooms.

There was another break at 7pm before the participants regrouped for another session. The retreat is to continue the full day tomorrow.

Move fizzled out?

Some also believe that the meeting will thrash out allegations of the 15 PKR MPs attempting to stage a coup against Khalid, who is also the state party chief.

NONE But this would seem unlikely, since an “emergency meeting ” was held at Khalid’s ( left ) house yesterday night in which most of the division leaders in the state threw their support behind the MB.

It is understood that the movement, known within the party inner circles as the G15 and purportedly masterminded by Azmin, has backed down for now.

 Zaid Ibrahim and Penang executive councillor Abdul Malik Abul Kassim’s calls for disciplinary action against the G15 has appeared to have tamed the group.

Zaid had reportedly called the move a “blatant show of indiscipline”.

Meanwhile after one of the sessions today, several PKR leaders spoke to the press denying any such coup ever existed, calling it “media speculations”.