Anwar musters his soldiery amidst setbacks.........

With three by-elections around the corner, PKR is in serious mood. And the party has to be.Today, PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim sets the tone for the tough battles ahead by calling on all party leaders and members to strengthen the party from the core.

Speaking at a special meeting for PKR legislators and other key party leaders in Shah Alam, Anwar said one of the major steps needed to strengthen PKR is to rid the party of opportunists.

Without naming names, he told his party chiefs that there were members who emailed him specifically to request for titles and posts in the party.

“Some of them even threatened me by saying that they will leave the party if they don’t get any posts. If they want to leave the party just because of this, let them leave,” Anwar told his audience of some 300 people gathered in a Shah Alam hotel this afternoon.

He stressed it was better for such selfish people to leave as they would be liabilities to the party.

Anwar, both casual in mood and dress, seemed to give Sarawak voters something to look forward to in the upcoming by-election in Batang Ai by focusing on native customary rights (NCR) land issue in the state.

“But this is not only Sarawak’s issue, but a national issue,” he said, promising that land problems will feature prominently in the coming Batang Ai campaign.

PKR is expected to vie for the Batang Ai seat and among those present at the event today were key PKR leaders from Sarawak, including its potential candidate Nicholas Bawin.

Bawin, the Sarawak PKR deputy chair, is a known advocate of the rights of indigenous groups in Sarawak to own NCR lands and have them titled.

On the proposed on-off toll hike, Anwar lashed at the government for their incompetency, saying that it was nothing short of lip service by the government.

“Trust me, after the by-election in Batang Ai (Sarawak), the toll increase will be put back on track as it was postponed for only a short period of time...this is definitely Umno-BN culture,” he said.

However, he conceded that the current political scenario has put Pakatan Rakyat at a crossroad as they are now faced with an “emotional propaganda - three R’s - race, religion, and royalty.”

“These three emotive issues have developed into the Malay's psychology.

“If the people are not shown the real picture on these issues, they will be fooled by persuasion on the symbols of race, religion and royalty, which will bring their way of thinking back into the feudal era,” said Anwar.

source:malaysiakini

Anwar berkata,"Kita telah buktikan sebelum ini di Permatang Pauh dan Kuala Terengganu. Kita tidak mempunyai dana yang banyak seperti Umno dengan jenteranya yang begitu besar.

"Bagaimanapun, kita tetap memperoleh kemenangan dan saya percaya, itu akan meneruskan semangat kita untuk berjaya di Bukit Gantang, Bukit Selambau dan Batang Ai," katanya.

Katanya, Umno memainkan isu kaum, agama dan institusi beraja dalam propaganda politiknya yang sememangnya akan menyentuh sensitiviti kaum terutamanya Melayu.

"Umno menggunakan 3R iaitu race, religion dan royalty (kaum, agama dan istana) dan ini mudah mencungkil perasaan rakyat dan meresap ke dalam psikologi terutamanya kaum Melayu.

"Kalau rakyat tidak mendapat maklumat yang tepat, mereka akan terperangkap dalam mainan politik ini dan pemikiran menjadi sempit dan kembali mundur," katanya.

Btw, the flip-flop Pat Lah's gomen thinks that deferring the proposed toll hike will guarantee them victory in the three by-elections,just wait and see. The toll increase will be put back on track after these by-elections.

Please, don’t insult the rakyat’s intelligence.

Read here and here.

cheers.