Rafizi (third left) is welcomed by Sarawak PKR members upon his arrival at the hotel. Seen at second left is Sng. — Photos by Muhammad Rais Sanusi
Rafizi (centre) poses with his supporters at the event.
KUCHING: Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) vice president Rafizi Ramli, who is challenging Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali for the deputy president post, aspires to set up a PKR cooperative (co-op).
Rafizi who was here to campaign for the deputy president post during the party election expected in November is optimistic that the party’s membership will hit one million by next year.
Presently, PKR has more than 900,000 members across the nation.
“I am confident that our membership will reach one million next year. If 200,000 of these one million contribute RM50 each, we can easily collect RM100 million in a year.
“With this RM100 million, we can do a lot of things for our members. We can set up a co-op to take care of the welfare and benefits of PKR members,” he said at a hotel here yesterday.
According to him, the RM100 million will serve as the start-up capital for the proposed cooperative.
“With this money, we can share among the members.
“If this fund is professionally managed, we can reach out to more members at the grassroots level,” he said.
Rafizi claimed that Azmin, who is the Economic Affairs Minister, is not a leader who would take care of party members at the grassroots level.
Now that PKR is part of the federal government, he said there is no reason for the party not to look after the welfare of its members.
If elected, Rafizi said he would champion the status and rights of Sarawak.
He noted that quite a number of political leaders from Peninsular Malaysia had the tendency of saying one thing in Sarawak and another back in Peninsular Malaysia.
“When in Sarawak, they would say they would fight for Sarawak’s rights and the status of being one of three founding partners in Malaysia.
“But when they returned to Peninsular Malaysia, they did not raise it at all.
“This is a reason why many people in Peninsular Malaysia still regard Sarawak and Sabah as among the states in Malaysia rather than among the four entities that formed Malaysia way back in 1963,” he said.
He said the Federation of Malaya alongside Singapore, Sarawak and Northern Borneo, now Sabah, came together to form Malaysia in 1963.
Rafizi pledged that he would recognise Sarawak and Sabah as the founding partners
instead of two Bornean states in Malaysia.
“The deputy president of PKR (Azmin Ali) has to tell the people in Peninsular Malaysia that Sarawak and Sabah are the founding partners.
“If we continue to regard Sarawak and Sabah as two of the 13 states in Malaysia, there is then no difference between us and Umno,” he said.
A good number of PKR members in Sarawak attended the event to show their support for Rafizi.
The PKR election system is different from other political parties in Malaysia as every member has the right to decide on the leadership.
Voting at the division level commenced on Aug 24 and goes on for weeks with the results expected to be announced in November.
The deputy presidential fight between Azmin and Rafizi is one of the highlights of the party election. Among the Sarawak PKR members who rallied support for Rafizi were Julau MP Larry Sng and Lubok Antu MP Jugah Muyang.