Sunday, June 14, 2009

Anwar Ibrahim the "Ketua Umum Parti"[General Leader of the Party] - is this an elected position or a 'for life' uncontestable position?

I have been wondering about the position being held by Anwar Ibrahim - and so I went to the PKR Website, and it showed Anwar as being the "Ketua Umum Parti"[General Leader of the Party], and he seems to be listed even above the Party President, who is Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, and the Deputy President, Dr Syed Husin Ali.

Majlis Pimpinan Tertinggi (2007 - 2010)
Ketua Umum Parti
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (URL)
Presiden
Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail
Timb. Presiden
Dr Syed Husin Ali
Naib Presiden
Sdr Azmin Ali
Dr Lee Boon Chye
Sdr Mustaffa Kamil Ayub
Sdr Sivarasa Rasiah
Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan
Setiausaha Agung
Dato' Salehuddin Hashim
Timb. Setiausaha Agung
Sdr Abdul Halim Mohamed Yussof
Sdr Jonson Chong
Sdri Suzana Manja Ibrahim
Bendahari
Sdr William Leong
Timb. Bendahari
Tengku Maraziah Tengku Sulaiman
Ketua Penerangan
Sdr Chua Tian Chang @ Tian Chua
Pengarah Pilihanraya
Hajjah Zainon Jaafar
Timb. Pengarah Pilihanraya
Hajah Fuziah Salleh
Pengarah Strategi
Sdr Saifuddin Nasution Ismail
Pengerusi Tetap
Haji Hishamuddin Ismail
Timb. Pengerusi Tetap
Sdr Khazizi Ahmad
Ahli-Ahli MPT
Sdr Dominique Ng Kim Ho
Dr Badrul Amin Bahron
Dr Mansur Othman
Sdr N. Gobalakrishnan
Dr Zaleha Mustafa
Sdr Mohd Yahya Sahri
Sdr Johari Abdul
Sdri Irene Fernandez
Sdri Christina Liew
Kapt (B) Usaili Alias
Dato Dr. Zainal Abidin Ahmad
Sdri Latheefa Koya
Sdr Saiful Izham Ramli
Haji Osman Abdul Rahman
Sdr Badrul Hisham Shahrin
Sdr Ansari Abdullah
Sdri Animah Ferrar
Sdr Khalid Jaafar
Sdr Zakaria Abd Hamid
Sdr Cheah Kah Peng
Sdr Omar Jaafar
Sdr S. Manikavasagam
Sdr Ang Hiok Gai - PKR WEBSITE


I wonder whether this is an elected position - or is it a for life position?

How was Anwar Ibrahim made the "Ketua Umum Parti"[General Leader of the Party]. Did the membership vote for him? I think not. Maybe, it was the Supreme Council that elected him...

Who is this "Ketua Umum Parti"[General Leader of the Party]? Is he above the Party President. Is he the de fracto PKR President? After all, he behaves like the Party President, and we have really heard very little from the Party President herself. She resigned her MPship - and Anwar is the new MP for that area, and have also taken over as the Opposition Leader in Parliament.

Some say Anwar is really not a member of PKR - and that is why he is just an 'Advisor' of the party - this "Ketua Umum Parti"[General Leader of the Party]. Some say that he still his a 'wrongly expelled UMNO member' with aspirations to return to UMNO, with the ability to claim that he never once betrayed UMNO by consciously joining any other political party. In a recent interview on Thai TV, I was shocked when Anwar said that he abandoned his idea of returning to UMNO only 4 years ago (mmm that would make it 2005...), and that is very disturbing.

These are doubts best clarified by Anwar himself...we need Anwar to be clear that he is with Pakatan Rakyat (and against the UMNO led-BN), and that he would not suddenly lead his team of ex-UMNO, ex-MCA, ex-MIC and/or ex-Gerakan people from the PKR and return back to UMNO and the BN...

I belive he should just be Party President - and maybe, Wan Azizah should just resign as President - and Anwar should just stand for President of the party, and be 'elected' by all its members, so that it can be said that he leads PKR with the mandate of all its members. To date, his position cannot be said to have the mandate of the about 300.000 PKR members. [Or maybe, there is no provision for the elections if the President suddenly resigns...]

There has been major constitutional reforms made at the recent PKR General Meeting, and maybe this should also have been considered. What is the term of the office of "Ketua Umum Parti"[General Leader of the Party]? Can one person hold this position for a maximum of 3 terms of 3 years each? Is this an elected position?

Sadly, the Constitution of PKR (or its newly amended constitution) was not there in the PKR Website...Maybe, someone can help direct me to where I could get hold of this Constitution?

PKR delegates at the party’s extraordinary national congress today gave their stamp of approval to major constitutional changes after four and a half hours of “lively debate” held behind closed doors.
MCPX

pkr egm bangi zaid ibrahim joins pkr event 130609 21According to party communications director Jonson Chong (left in photo), 1,064 representatives from all states, as well as those from the youth and women’s wing, “voted overwhelmingly in favour of change and democracy”.

“After an emotional vote-counting process, the votes in favour of the reforms numbered 941, with 103 against and 9 abstentions,” said Chong at the end of the one-day special meeting which was held at the Selangor International Islamic University in Bangi.

Among the key amendments are:

  • Direct elections for divisional and central leadership positions.

  • Change of terminology for divisions and branches (from ‘bahagian’ to ‘cabang’, and ‘cawangan’ to ‘ranting’).

  • Implementation of a policy of 30 percent involvement of women in all levels of the party’s leadership.

  • Reduction of the age limit of the Youth wing to 35.

Chong said that the delegates voted in favour of all the amendments “en bloc”.
- Malaysiakini, 13/6/2009, PKR delegates back bold amendments

2 comments:

shahnon said...

You're spot on. President's term is limited to 9 years, but I think not a single mention about the post of their "Ketua Umum". So this means, Anwar is PKR's lifetime leader for life. Interesting. he he.. :)

AG said...

I suppose anwar Ibrahim's position in PKR is similar to Lim Kit Siang's position as Parliamentary leader. One could similarly ask how LKS was elected "DAP Parliamentary leader" & the historical precedent of such a post in DAP or the malaysian parliament.

Both are, for better or worse, the embodiments & true power centres of their respective parties notwithstanding the actual posts the hold or not hold.