MAY 11 — The PKR election nomination process has closed and we see the incumbent deputy president Rafizi Ramli being challenged by Nurul Izzah Anwar for the post. Immediately there was a lot of talk that there would be large-scale nepotism if Nurul Izzah secured the post of deputy president of PKR. The public is fast to jump to that perception.
In 2023 when Nurul Izzah was appointed as a senior adviser to the prime minister on economics and finance, there was a lot of public uproar over the appointment even though she accepted the position without any salary or allowances. The criticisms were made without any attempt by the public to understand and know the rationale behind the decision. Just because the prime minister is her father, the public used the parental connection to cry nepotism. Since then, two years have passed. Was there any nepotism? Hence, when she secures the position of PKR deputy president, we should not be too hasty to shout nepotism.
Nurul Izzah has been a three-term MP and has accumulated vast experience on issues that plague the country. Among them was her introduction of the Parliamentary Bill in Malaysia’s Parliament to Revoke Emergency Declarations in the country, including the eventual abolishment of the internal Security Act.
She also served on the Public Accounts Committee from 2018 to 2022 and was the PKR spokesperson for the Ministry of Women, Family, and Community Development. She was also an active member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group Malaysia for the Reform of All Places of Detention (APPGM). She also served as Chairperson of the Consideration of Bills Select Committee, just to name a few. Nurul Izzah gained prominence through her work and commitment.
Rafizi Ramli and Nurul Izzah Anwar are set to face off in PKR’s upcoming deputy presidency contest. — Picture by Firdaus Latif
Coming back to the incumbent deputy president, he had been in the spotlight recently after his leave of absence sparked speculation that he might resign from the Cabinet and step aside from contesting at the PKR leadership polls. We do not wish to speculate on his disappearing stunt.
The incumbent is the founder of both the Whistleblower organisation and the National Oversight and Whistleblowers Centre. He gained prominence by exposing banking details belonging to the National Feedlot Corporation and its chairman, publishing a libellous statement against Tabung Haji, and retaining page 98 of the 1MDB audit report in violation of the Official Secrets Acts 1972. The actions of the incumbent invited many litigations. He spent much time and efforts to get himself out of the legal tangles.
There were allegations that Nurul Izzah has zero governing experience, both in the state and federal levels. Who would have governing experience if they were not appointed to federal or state cabinet.
In fact, the performances of most of the current cabinet ministers are not up to the mark expected by Malaysians. However, Malaysians accept their performance as most of them are first timers. However, we would expect them to perform better when elected again in the next general election.
We believe either of the hopeful candidates would perform well when given the opportunity.
*This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
