Chegu Bard pledges more grassroots power

By Zefry Dahalan

SEREMBAN: Badrul Hisham Shaharin has pledged to institute the “one member one vote system” in the election of PKR youth’s state leaders if he becomes the movement’s new national chief.

Currently, the national youth chief appoints the state chiefs, who in turn appoint their deputies, vice-chiefs and committee members.

"This is not true democracy,” said Badrul Hisham, popularly known as Chegu Bard.

“In certain cases the choice of the state chiefs does not reflect the actual preference of the majority of the youth members in those states."

He said it “only makes sense” that PKR’s direct election system should cover the selection of top brass at the state level as well.

“I plan to introduce a state-level youth congress in order to let the grassroots members choose the leaders they want,” he added.

"There is no point of appointing a leader at state level who doesn't command respect from the division leaders or members.

"All the state leaders, including the state committee members, should be elected by the members, not appointed by the state leader."

Hidden hand at work?

Chegu Bard also expressed concern about the inefficiency of PKR headquarters in handling the current election.

He said it surprised him to find out that incumbent youth wing chief Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin’s name had been substituted for his as the nominee of the Libaran, Tampin and Jelebu divisions.

"If nominations for Badrul Hisham can be easily changed to Shamsul Iskandar, what will happen if contestants’ names are similar?” he said.

To verify Chegu Bard’s claim, FMT checked with Tampin youth chief Muhamad Zam Rusli, who confirmed that the division did nominate Chegu Bard.

"I even informed Tampin PKR division chief Baharuddin Siri that we nominated Chegu Bard for national youth chief,” Muhamad Zam said.

“Baharuddin supported our nomination. But now I am informed by Chegu Bard that the record at PKR headquarters shows Tampin nominated Shamsul Iskandar instead.

"How can be this happen? There must be a hidden hand doing all this and all this indicates that transparency is lacking in the election process.”

Muhamad Zam urged the party’s leadership to arrest the problem before the confidence of grassroots members dwindled further.