By Zurairi AR
Malay Mail Online
February 10, 2015
PETALING JAYA, Feb 10 — Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim conceded last night that the future of Pakatan Rakyat (PR) lies with its young leaders, hours before the Federal Court delivers a decision that might spell the end of his political career.
Speaking to over 1,000 supporters on the grand finale of the “Rakyat Hakim Negara” tour to drum up support for him, Anwar admitted that the recent friction among PR leaders was caused by old wounds that have festered over time.
“Sometimes, the older leadership is dragged by issues that are old and outdated … It is important that we give way to the young leadership in PR, because they are more forward-looking,” Anwar said from a stage erected on Dataran Petaling Jaya here.
“We should ensure that this new and young group can see the future of Malaysia with confidence, and not with outdated mindset that can pit one with each other.”
The disagreement over the third vote is the latest flashpoint to threaten the relationship between PAS and DAP, whose leaders have already been trading barbs over the Islamist party’s plan to enforce hudud Islamic penal law in Kelantan.
A long-overdue presidential council meeting was held by PR on Sunday, but had merely deferred the discussion of the two thorny issues to a later date.
At a dinner before Anwar’s speech last night, DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang said the young PR leaders who started out after the 1998 Reformasi era were more comfortable of working in a coalition and work out their differences despite each party’s ideologies.
“Isn’t it time for a more youthful population to take over the leadership levels in all spheres of Malaysia’s national life?” Lim asked during a benefit dinner before the rally.
“I am not suggesting any immediate action but I think there is merit in the suggestion that the older leaders like Hadi, Anwar and myself begin to withdraw from the front lines in favour of the post-Merdeka generation.”
The rally last night also saw speeches by among others PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu, Selangor Mentri Besar Azmin Ali, and PKR secretary-general Rafizi Ramli, in addition to music performances and poem recital by National Laureate Datuk A. Samad Said.
Today, the Federal Court will deliver its decision on whether to uphold an earlier ruling by the Court of Appeal to overturn Anwar’s acquittal of a charge of sodomising his then-aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan six years ago.
The appellate court also slapped a five-year jail sentence on the opposition leader, who had previously spent six years behind bars before he was acquitted in 2004 of sodomising his wife’s driver, Azizan Abu Bakar.