Chegubard joins PKR Youth chief race
PKR supreme council member Badrul Hisham Shahrin today tried to play it safe by refusing to link himself to candidates in the already heated contest for central PKR posts when he officially announced his intention to run for the top youth post.
PKR supreme council member Badrul Hisham Shahrin today tried to play it safe by refusing to link himself to candidates in the already heated contest for central PKR posts when he officially announced his intention to run for the top youth post.
“We do not claim to be endorsing or supporting anyone.
“We are all (de facto) leader Anwar Ibrahim’s people, (president) Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail’s people and we support (deputy president hopefuls) Azmin Ali, Khalid Ibrahim, Zaid Ibrahim and Mustaffa Kamil Ayub because they are the core of our leadership,” he said.
Nevertheless, Mustaffa’s presence at his press conference today may give an indication on where his allegiances lie.
Asked about this, Badrul ( left ), commonly known as Chegubard, said that he had invited all the four deputy president hopefuls, but believes that the others were tied up as it is a working day.
He, however, acknowledged that he shares Mustaffa’s reformist outlook and respects the latter’s steadfast loyalty to the party.
Running alongside Badrul for the PKR Youth deputy chief post is Teja assemblyperson Chang Lih Kang.
Chang was previously named as a candidate for a youth exco member position by opposing team Generasi Reformasi led by Rafizi Ramli.
“I made this decision because I wanted to vie for a higher post than exco member, for which I was listed (in Rafizi’s team),” he said.
Others in Badrul’s team, who are running under the tagline ‘Penerus Momentum Reformasi’, are vice-chief candidates Kuala Kurau assemblyperson Yunus Jamhari and Keningau division representative Dr Nicholas J Guntobon.
The final line-up will only be finalised in the next few days, as “there are too many people” who want to be part of the team, said Badrul.
Also present at the announcement today was former PKR communications chief Jonson Chong and representatives from Perak, Penang, Kedah, Negri Sembilan and Selangor PKR Youth and about 30 supporters.
‘PKR Youth shouldn’t belong to select few’
Badrul, who is a founding member of Keadilan, has grassroots appeal and is evidently using this to stump his opponents in Generasi Reformasi who have been seen to be an exclusive group of young professionals.
In an apparent swipe, he said: “The youth movement should not belong merely to a select group of young PKR politicians.”
But when asked if he was referring to anyone, Badrul diplomatically said that he meant that the movement should push the agenda for all Malaysian youth, not just those in the party.
He also seemed unfazed over the fact that Generasi Reformasi has been officially campaigning for about a month now.
“We do not campaign only during election period. My team and I are not strangers to the people.
“We started campaigning twelve years ago at the birth of the Reformasi days,” he said.
He added that he chose not to announce his candidacy earlier to make sure that he has the support of the grassroots.
Badrul leads in the number of nominations garnered and claims to have the support of divisions from all states.
The team’s manifesto is anchored on the 1998 Permatang Pauh declaration, calling for greater democratisation of power and the economy.
In his detailed action plan, Badrul acknowledges that PKR Youth is in danger, with only a quarter of divisions having enough quorum to nominate central candidates.
He then outlined steps to attract members and to strengthen the youth divisions including language and computer training and developing a consortium to encourage entrepreneurship.
Interestingly, he also moots a youth lab akin to that run by BN Youth involving multiple stakeholders within and outside the party to develop further action plans for AMK.
