Hassan wrong about Rafizi's Ayuh Malaysia - PKR Youth leader

Summary

• PKR Youth exco member Arshad Hassni criticises party veteran Hassan Abdul Karim for attacking the party’s “Ayuh Malaysia” initiative.

• This follows the Pasir Gudang MP’s statement on Monday where he claimed PKR grassroots were rejecting party leaders linked to the movement.

A PKR Youth leader has hit back at party veteran Hassan Abdul Karim for labelling the party’s “Ayuh Malaysia” initiative as “cartel politics”.

In a statement, national PKR Youth exco member Arshad Hassni claimed the accusation made by Hassan was wrong and “baseless”.

“As one of the party leaders involved in the ‘Ayuh Malaysia’ initiative before the 15th general election, I want to make some clarifications on this wrong accusation against the initiative.

“The claim was not only baseless but also unfair to the sincere efforts by many parties, who wanted to strengthen the party’s machinery for the general election.

“I would like to remind here that Ayuh Malaysia is an initiative that was based on the need (for PKR) to gain the support of undecided voters - an important group, especially in marginal seats where their votes can determine whether our party wins or loses.

“This movement was spearheaded by Rafizi Ramli and Nurul Izzah Anwar since March 2022, where it continued approaches that had been proven effective during the previous election (GE14),” Arshad said.

He was responding to Hassan, who on Monday criticised party figures aligned to Rafizi, who is the PKR deputy president.

The Pasir Gudang MP claimed that some big names were defeated in this year’s party divisional elections because the grassroots were rejecting cartel politics, particularly those who were part of Rafizi’s “Ayuh Malaysia” movement.

He also claimed that many who lost their division chief positions deserved the axe because they became “elitists” and abandoned their supporters after getting into power.

Divided commitments

Adding further, Arshad said such accusations are creating the perception that Ayuh Malaysia is a group with vested interests and denies the contributions made by its volunteers and activists, who had worked hard to ensure PKR stayed relevant.

The youth leader also chided Hassan for branding PKR ministers and deputy ministers as “elitists”, saying the group has to divide their commitment between governing the country and maintaining relationships with party grassroots.

“Thus, I urge everyone not to use the ongoing party elections as a platform to attack any individual or group.

“Party polls should be an opportunity to strengthen our unity instead of causing a rift.”

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