Syed Shahir, Nik Nazmi beat Soh-Zaid faction for Kelana Jaya

It was a thrilling fight of near epic proportions at the much-watched Kelana Jaya PKR divisional election, with MTUC president Syed Shahir Mohamud and communications director Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad winning by the skin of their teeth.

Kelana Jaya is a core division in Selangor, the jewel in the PKR crown. Both Syed Shahir and Nik Nazmi did well to stave off a stubborn attack from Abdul Razak Jalil and Dr S Vigneswaran, who teamed up against them for the posts of division chief and deputy chief respectively.

Syed Shahir

In the end, after recounts, Syed Shahir retained the Kelana Jaya chief post by 422 votes against Razak’s 416. Nik Nazmi took the deputy chief post with 423 votes against Vigneswaran’s 409.

But what happened at Kelana Jaya on Saturday was more than just an overly aggressive fight, marred by money politics. It symbolizes the challenge for control that is taking place at key divisions throughout the PKR network nationwide. Although PKR may still be in its infancy without the established structures of DAP and PAS, it is a desired brand name and not least because of its Reformasi platform that gave seed to the political tsunami of March 2008.

“What happened at Kelana Jaya Jaya shows how desperate the saboteurs are and how deeply they have infiltrated themselves into the party. It is time for Anwar Ibrahim to take drastic action. He is not just the PKR de-facto head but also the de-facto head of Pakatan Rakyat. If these guys manage to rampas or hijack PKR, the whole Pakatan structure is jeopardized. No need to wait for 13th GE, straightaway Umno-BN wins,” a Kelana Jaya division insider told Malaysia Chronicle.

When relations turn sour

He was referring to factions perceived to be aligned to the Soh Chee Wen-Zaid Ibrahim camp, which has been accused of trying to wrest control of the party at all costs. Zaid himself is locked in a bitter dogfight with vice president Azmin Ali for the PKR deputy presidency. But what initially appeared to be personal rivalry or a clash of personalities has turned out to be something more sinister and Zaid has expressed intention to go for the presidency itself.

Nik Nazmi

Zaid’s ambition could have been acceptable to members even though he has been in PKR for only slightly more than a year, but the methods he employed including enlisting the Umno-controlled media to hit back at his party and party mates have alienated them much more than he realizes.

And this was apparent in Kelana Jaya. Both Abdul Razak and Vignes are known to be part of the Soh-Zaid camp. In fact all four of them are former BN members. Abdul Razak was a former Umno MBPJ councillor when Soh was the Petaling Jaya BN chairman. Vigneswaran is an ex-MIC leader while Zaid was the former Umno Law minister.

Abdul Razak

Kelana Jaya MP Loh Gwo-Burne is also a part of their team. On Saturday, both Loh and Abdul Razak ferried in bus-loads of their supporters, who wore t-shirts stating 'I am a Trojan Horse' as a show of support for Zaid. But despite their co-ordination slicked by a rumored budget of RM300,000, they underestimated the loyalty of division members to Anwar, Syed Shahir and Nik Nazmi.

According to members who were present at the polls, when supporters of Abdul Razak and Gwo Burne realised that it would be a close call and not the “sure-win” they had expected, they tried to intimidate those who went over to the booths belonging to Syed and Nik.

When counting got underway, it soon became clear that the Syed–Nik team had made a clean sweep of the Youth, Women and division committee positions. The cliffhanger was of course the division chief's post and the counting of the ballots was intensely monitored by all sides.

When Abdul Razak reached 400 votes, he started to punch the air, fully confident that victory was his. Gwo Burne and his supporters even hoisted him in the air for a victory lap, but at the final count, it was Syed Shahir who beat him by two votes. A recount was then immediately ordered for both the No.1 and No.2 spots. This time, Syed Shahir beat Abdul Razak by 6 votes and Nik Nazmi beat Vignes by 14 votes.

“To an extent Anwar must accept responsibility because he took Soh and Zaid into PKR. I remember when we heard Soh was joining, there were a lot of objections because of his stock market scandals and his association with Daim Zainuddin. As for Zaid, there were concerns because he is very temperamental and everyone knows his biggest weakness is his big ego. Now both men have turned out not only to be blanks as far as PKR is concerned but even outright enemies of the party," the Kelana Jaya insider said.

"There is also a lot of talk about a third force. By all means, Zaid and Soh should form a new party if they have the political interest and they don’t want to return to BN. But they should not spoil their own chances with the public by creating trouble in PKR when it is obvious PKR members don't want them anymore."

Kelana Jaya members also nominated Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail for the presidency,Azmin Ali for the deputy presidency, and for the 4 vice-presidencies Tian Chua, Dr Xavier Jayakumar, Dr Mansor Othman and Mustaffa Kamil Ayub.