Rafizi despondent on future with PKR; pundit says he may be PM one day

Former PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli believes he no longer has a future within the party leadership.

However, a pundit said many are hoping that Rafizi will become prime minister one day, citing historical precedents in Anwar Ibrahim and Dr Mahathir Mohamad's path to power.

The Pandan MP made public his bleak vision of his own political future in response to comments by political activist and observer Liyana Marzuki.

Liyana, in a Facebook post yesterday, spoke about Rafizi's fraught relationship with the PKR president - saying that the former economy minister had ambitions to become prime minister and tried to overshadow Anwar with a gung-ho attitude that did not take into account political considerations.

However, she expressed hope that the two would reconcile, saying that Rafizi was a useful check and balance against Anwar.

Responding to Liyana, Rafizi acknowledged that he was at odds with Anwar but denied that this was due to ambitions to become prime minister, which the lawmaker said he did not aspire to become.

He said if he had aspired for power, he would have aligned with Mahathir in 2018 and sided with his former rival, Azmin Ali, against Anwar. Instead, he said he remained loyal to Anwar.

However, being in government widened the gulf between the two.

The former economy minister claimed the prime minister felt that placating political allies such as Umno, DAP and Sarawak's GPS to win the next general election was more important than anything else.

Rafizi, on the other hand, said he felt that PKR must carry out its mandate from the people to implement reforms - even if it upset the party's allies.

Money politics

The divide between the two leaders eventually resulted in Rafizi quitting as the economy minister after Nurul Izzah Anwar unseated him as PKR deputy president in the party polls earlier this year.

Rafizi has claimed that this was the result of machinations by leaders within PKR, whom he accused of resorting to money politics.

Since then, he has been openly critical of the government, while still pledging support to the prime minister.

In his comments yesterday, Rafizi said he was focused on carrying out his responsibility to the people, and those in PKR who still hope for corruption-free politics.

However, he said that it is not likely that he will be a PKR leader again in the future.

"It is best if PKR, Anwar, and myself walk different paths. I don't see any path that will bring me back to the PKR leadership in the future," he said.

Liyana later thanked Rafizi for replying to her comments and clarified her remarks.

"My message is simple. Mahathir was pushed out by Tunku (Abdul Rahman), and became the prime minister in the end. Mahathir pushed out Anwar, and (Anwar) became prime minister in the end.

"There is precedent, and many pray for the same for Rafizi, when the time comes," she said.

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