Party backing Anwar fights for survival

Party backing Anwar fights for survival

By Nelson Graves

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters): Malaysia's Parti Keadilan Nasional, the standard-bearer of jailed former finance minister Anwar Ibrahim, is reeling from dissent a year after its creation.

In a case of tasting one's own medicine, the party that calls Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad an autocrat is being accused -- by none other than Mahathir -- of harboring a dictator.

A vice president has quit the National Justice Party, threatening to sue the deputy chief for "lies and mud slinging". The internecine squabbling, splashed on the pages of national newspapers, has some wondering whether it will disintegrate, leaving the opposition in the grasp of Islamic conservatives.

"It is life-threatening to the party," political commentator M.G.G. Pillai said.

A senior Western diplomat said: "It's an open question whether the party can make the next election."

Parti Keadilan Nasional (National Justice Party) was formed in April 1999 as the political vehicle for Anwar's supporters who spontaneously took to the streets of the capital after he was sacked and arrested in September 1998.

Keadilan attracted a motley crew -- former members of Mahathir's party, academics, human rights workers and political neophytes including Anwar's wife Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who was propelled to the presidency of the party.

The party was instrumental in uniting the usually disparate opposition, which more than doubled its seats in parliament in general elections in November, with Keadilan winning five races.

The party has been struggling ever since. A group of ethnic Indians walked out when Keadilan chose a Moslem Malay as its candidate in a parliamentary by-election earlier this year. Then five websites that had helped the party counter the mainstream press closed down.

Now vice president Marina Yusoff, a former leader of Mahathir's party and a founding member of Keadilan, has resigned and called deputy president Chandra Muzaffar a dictator.

A scathing letter which Marina wrote to Chandra in January has appeared on the Internet. Does she still consider Chandra a dictator? "His style, yes," she told Reuters.

The irony of the situation was not lost on Mahathir. "He (Chandra) accuses people of being dictators but he himself is a dictator," the 74-year-old prime minister said.

Chandra was out of the country and could not be reached for comment. But Wan Azizah came to his defense, saying the dispute with Marina had been blown out of proportion. "There are so many other things the country needs to focus on," she said.

Still, politicians and analysts said the dispute was a symptom of deeper troubles inside the party.

They cited a struggle between factions, with one focused on getting Anwar released from prison and the other pursuing a broader Islamic agenda.

"I think the party has deviated from its main agenda," Marina said. "My main agenda has always been to free Anwar. By trying to say the party is not accountable to one man, some party members have deepened the alienation of Anwar supporters."

A senior opposition leader who asked not to be identified said Keadilan was still struggling to define itself.

"Once the election was over, they began to find there were different agendas, different cultures -- former UMNO members, Anwar supporters, NGOs, idealists," he said.

Asked if Wan Azizah needed to impose her leadership, he said: "The party needs leadership from somebody."

Marina, who once sat on the powerful UMNO Supreme Council, said Islamic conservatives appeared to be gaining an upper hand. "If this continues, it will become another Islamic party."

Keadilan leaders accuse the mainstream press of capitalizing on the dispute to discredit the party. Vice president Tian Chua said: "If the repressive regime hopes to destroy the party by creating perceptions that Keadilan is facing internal squabbles, it must be in a state of hallucination."

But he acknowledged that turnout at the party's recent annual general assembly was modest. "We recognize we have weaknesses, especially in administration," he said.

Syed Husin Ali, president of the opposition Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) which is considering merging with Keadilan, said Wan Azizah's party was not terminally ill. "The governing parties are concerned Keadilan and the PRM will get together."

But many believe the merger, which would give Keadilan the PRM's organizational skills, will never come about.

The political calendar could work in Keadilan's favor -- the next general election is not due until 2004.

Will the party disintegrate by then? "I don't think so," said the senior opposition leader. "It's going to be a very testing time, but you can't write them off."