PKR Youth chief aspirant reveals line-up, vows reform

By Zefry Dahalan

SEREMBAN: PKR Youth chief aspirant Badrul Hisham Shaharin has announced his line-up, which aims to completely overhaul the movement.

In a recent interview with FMT, the vocal politician, popularly known as Chegu Bard, outlined his plans.

"The risk of (party supremo) Anwar Ibrahim being put behind bars is there, and if that happens, the youth wing must be ready to face the challenges, move forward and fight for him.

"But we can't achieve that with only 163 out of the 222 divisions being active, and out of the 163 divisions, only 50+ division have sent full quorum of nominations,” he said.

According to Badrul, the PKR Youth was entering the “red zone”.

“In Sarawak, the youth was not even eligible to conduct a meeting and this gives the impression that the wing has lost its vision and approach,” said the Rembau PKR division chief.

In view of these shortcomings, Badrul vowed to strengthen the wing should he and his line-up be given the mandate.

"We will strengthen the wing by roping in more youths to join us and at the same time, carry out voter registration exercises.

"Our core focus will be to retain the 31 parliamentary seats that PKR won during the 2008 general election. We will also focus on another 15 seats which we have a good chance of capturing from Barisan Nasional,” he said.

Badrul's line-up consists of Teja state assemblyman Chang Lih Kang, Yunus Jamhari, Dr Nicholas J Guntobon and V Sivam for the top leadership.

The suprising element in the line-up was Yunus. The latter was considered as a supporter of incumbent youth chief Shamsul Iskandar Amin, who would be defending his post in a straight fight with Badrul.

There will be no witch-hunt

As for the PKR Youth exco member posts, Badrul named Bukit Tengah state assemblyman Ong Chin Wen, Asrul Nizan Abdul Jalil (Kangar), Zulkifli Ibrahim (Nibong Tebal); Ahmad Azrizal Tahir (Bayan Baru); Habib Ahmad Muhaiyuddin Habib Danial (Sik) and Khairul Nizam Mohd Rozali (Padang Serai).

The rest on the list were Simon Ooi Tze Min (Sg Petani); Mohamad Nazri Ismail (Gelang Patah); Mohammad Azihan Che Seman (Gombak); Mohd Husaif Mohd Jalal (Sepang); Abdul Rahman Abdul Hackem (Bukit Bintang); Mohammad Yaser Abdul Rahman (Rembau); Mohamad Hafez Harun (Kuala Krau); Khairul Fauzi Muhammad (Batu Pahat); Muhammad Saufi Mi'ad (Teluk Kemang); Sandrea Ng Shy Ching (Ipoh Timur) and K Sachithananthan (Rembau).

Badrul also promised that there would be no witch-hunt if he won the polls and stressed that he would give a role to all, including Shamsul.