PKR's supermarket democracy....

PKR members should be delighted that they can choose a deputy president from three very different types of leaders. The first one is Azmin, who is staunchly loyal to the party with deeply ingrained hatred with Umno. He is probably the only person who will stay back if all other PKR members have jumped ship. Moreover, he has a lot of ideas as well as vibrancy and has passed the tests of time. He is a born politician.

The second one is Zaid Ibrahim, a futuristic type of leader who advocates open and progressive politics. He has an obligation towards a pluralistic society and democracy that works perfectly well with the ideals of PKR.

The third one is Selangor menteri besar Khalid Ibrahim, an administrative expert, CEO-type of leader who is fair and clean and someone you can hardly find fault with. If these three are not sufficient, we still have Mustafa and the fast rising star Nurul Izzah.

But PKR members are also a troubled lot, as they must choose the right person among the three different types of leader to be their post-Anwar deputy.

And this deputy president must be able to take the place of Anwar to bring the party together and lead, instead of creating more fission.

Unfortunately all these three deputy presidential candidates all have their own shortcomings.

Azmin is smart and an all-rounded politician, but he has not shown the style a political leader should have. A young party like PKR needs a leader that can create a political vision to lure the public. Unfortunately, so far we have yet to see this from Azmin.

Zaid Ibrahim is a sharp contrast to Azmin. He has all that is lacking in Azmin. He can talk about aspirations and visions, democracy and righteousness, in a way that will convince and captivate the audience.

But he lacks the wisdom and tactics of Azmin. In electoral politics he is already an out-of-control bomb that can blast off himself and his party. If he opens his mouth, there is an 80% chance that he will say something wrong that would offend people and scare away supporters.

And then we have Khalid Ibrahim. Although he is loyal and sincere, he lacks political aptitude. He doesn't have the political senses of Azmin nor the charisma of Zaid.

If we were to choose a minister or the chief secretary to the government, Khalid is the most ideal candidate to pick, but his election to deputy presidency, and the future presidency is likely to make many people worry.

In politics, only the wolves would survive, not the Little Red Hats.

Democracy is like a supermarket. So long as the stock is sufficient, the merchandise is in steady supply and not overdue, there is bound to be market and customers. This goes well with the supply-demand principles as well as the laws of democratic politics.

On the contrary, if the stock is in short supply and the products have outstayed their expiry dates, the situation could be worrisome. A political party that only has old men, no young talents and no competition is destined to wind up.

As such, PKR should be considered very lucky, and the multi-cornered fight is not a bad thing at all no matter how tough it could get.- Tay Tian Yam traslated by Dominic Loh

source:sinchew daily

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