Rafizi snipes at Anwar's special power allowing Ramanan's rapid rise

Summary

• Rafizi takes a jab at party president Anwar for allowing a former MIC treasurer to rise through the ranks in fewer than four years after joining PKR.

• Incumbent deputy president says newcomers should start from the bottom and work their way up by proving their worth and loyalty.

• He urges party members to end the PKR president’s special power to give an exception to any new party member to contest in polls despite not meeting minimum requirement.

Rafizi Ramli took a shot at PKR vice-president candidate R Ramanan last night, questioning the “special treatment” the latter had received, which allowed him to rise quickly through the ranks.

The incumbent deputy president pointed out that Ramanan (above, right), formerly of MIC, took fewer than four years to advance his position in PKR and the government after becoming a party member.

Speaking at a ceramah in Johor, Rafizi called upon PKR members to end party president Anwar Ibrahim’s special power to give an exception for any newcomer to contest in party and parliamentary polls.

"… Some party outsiders asked how a former MIC treasurer who had resigned only six months prior (could join our party) and in about two years as a member, he was given a safe parliamentary seat to contest.

"Less than a year after that, he gets appointed as a deputy minister. All these happened in fewer than four years after he joined the party.

"And now he wants to be a vice-president in the party. Why is this happening? This was because he was given an exception.

"So I ask you once again, do you agree that we should stop this power to give an exception to any member of another party to contest in our party?" he said.

Rafizi was speaking at the tail end of his “Jelajah Hiruk” campaign in Johor Bahru.

Prove your worth first

The economy minister said new party members should prove their worth and loyalty to the party first before being allowed to hold any position.

READ MORE: Rafizi lists 'cai' ahead of PKR polls, urges delegates to uphold reformist ideals

This must be done by starting as ordinary members and climbing up the ladder by doing ground party work, he added.

Rafizi mooted that any newcomer must be a PKR member for at least five years before being allowed to run for any party position.

This, he suggested, was to prevent PKR from being infiltrated by outsiders who try to buy their way in using their wealth and influence.

"I want to say this openly. Do you agree or not... We have gone through this process multiple times, where every time a party election comes, there must be some 'bocor' (infiltration).

"There would be people who do not even know, some Datuk, or rich people, 'tauke' (business tycoons) would participate (in the PKR election).

"All sorts of things would happen and disrupt our party. So, do you agree that we should set a minimum of five years before any party member can contest?" the Pandan MP asked, to a loud cheer from the audience.

Rescind power

Rafizi said the party president must no longer hold the special power to exempt anyone from party rules.

"Over the years, Anwar has been given the power as the party president to allow any new party member to contest in an election despite not meeting the one-year minimum requirement.

"I want to ask for us (PKR members) to rescind this power 100 percent.

"I have raised this issue with Anwar before, but he said he only signed (the exception letters) that were given to him. So I told him that he should not have done that," Rafizi said.

He warned that such action would cause many shady figures to join PKR and cause embarrassment to the party.

According to news reports, Ramanan joined PKR in 2020 after leaving MIC.

In the 2022 general election, PKR nominated Ramanan to contest for the Sungai Buloh parliamentary seat, which was held by the then Sungai Buloh PKR division chief R Sivarasa.

He managed to defeat former health minister Khairy Jamaluddin from BN and five others, albeit with a greatly diminished majority compared to when Sivarasa won the seat in 2018.

In December 2023, Ramanan was appointed as the deputy entrepreneur development and cooperatives minister.

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