COMMENT | William Shakespeare’s comedy "Much ado about nothing", written somewhere in the late 16th century, seems relevant to contemporary matters.

The non-invitation to PKR’s deputy president Azmin Ali to officiate the party women’s and youth’s convention seems to be much ado about nothing.

Why would some go to the extent of raising this matter to question PKR president Anwar Ibrahim’s credibility and his manner of governance is not clear.

It might be a practice not unique to the tradition of PKR but to parties such as Umno and others where the deputy is given the honour to officiate party conventions relating to women and youth matters.

It is not that we have to justify what has been done by PKR's leadership, but something is really amiss in the party.

Something amiss does not necessarily mean that the public is not aware of what is going on in PKR.

If there is an open challenge to the leadership of Anwar in terms of the power succession, and even rumours of a political plot with the alleged involvement of none other than Azmin (photo), is there a necessity for both of them to openly embrace each other in the public to show that all is well with the party?

Much water has flowed under the bridge for us to pretend that everything is alright with the party.

Everything is alright with the party except for the indirect challenge posed by Azmin to undermine Anwar's chances of becoming the next prime minister.

If Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohammed has no issue with the succession plan, something that was adopted by Pakatan Harapan before the last election, what is the problem with Azmin then?

There is no such thing as blind or mechanical adherence to the practices of the past.

There is nothing wrong in setting aside these practices if such things are found to create disorder and acrimony in the party.

Azmin knows very well that why he was not invited. Anyway, since he has gone to the extent of derailing Anwar’s plan to succeed Mahathir as prime minister, does he expect to be given VIP treatment with all the trappings of power befitting the deputy president and maybe future president.

Let us not make a mountain out of a molehill.

The non-invitation to Azmin to grace the party convention on women and youth is not a big blow to democracy, governance or even the credibility of Anwar as the prime minister in waiting.

Invitation or non-invitation is being played out in the games of thrones. Given the high stakes, it would be foolish to extract morality or impute normative considerations.

Using the past examples of practices in Umno or PAS has no meaning in this sense.

If a number of deputy prime ministers were passed over in the past for the post of prime minister, what is the big deal with the number two in PKR for not being invited to grace the women’s and youth’s function?

Let us move beyond rather than engaging in trivialities, over imagining things and blowing them out of proportion.

P RAMASAMY is the state assemblyperson for Perai. He is also deputy chief minister II of Penang.

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