PKMS infighting will hurt party's
image
The ongoing leadership tussle within the Singapore Malay
National Organisation or PKMS which escalated into a violent brawl
on Thursday is another blow to the opposition political party.
The rival factions admit this will hurt the image and
credibility of the party in the eyes of the community.
Saifulbahri Ismail reports :
Infighting within a political party is nothing out of the
ordinary.
Disputes arise when members don't see eye to eye.
But when it spills violently onto the streets in public, and
people get hurt, such conflicts start to raise eyebrows.
Since 2006, PKMS has been split into two groups which have been
at loggerheads with each other.
On Thursday, they were involved in a bust-up outside their
headquarters.
Four men were taken to hospital, with one warded in intensive
care with a fractured skull.
Even before this, heated exchanges have occurred during their
meetings -- to the point where insults were hurled and objects
thrown.
Current Secretary General of PKMS Malik Ismail maintained that
it's not a violent party :
"The impression of the community towards PKMS as in the past has
been very bad. We try our level best to improve our image, to
improve our community interaction in order to ensure that we are
part of Singapore. We want to contribute as an organisation."
PKMS is an opposition party that was established to look after
the interests of the Malays in Singapore.
However, its objectives have been blurred over the years.
Ramli Mohamad, is the Secretary General of the group who's
challenging the current leadership :
"The image of the party of PKMS now is totally out of our
objectives - to put our people back to politics. About 80s PKMS
become worse and worse and now become not even worse become totally
rubbish."
PKMS is a constituent member of the Singapore Democratic
Alliance set up to form a common opposition front against the
ruling People's Action Party.
According to political analyst Yang Razali Kassim, PKMS's
contiunous internal conflicts could also have a negative effect on
othe opposition parties in Singapore :
"In the eyes of the public in Singapore, sometimes its not easy
to separate the state of one opposition party with the state of
opposition in general. Because of have a situation where political
parties in the opposition tend to one to group together to face the
ruling party. The adverse effect of coming together is that the
fate of one party can have contagious effect on the other party in
the alliance of coalition in the opposition."
It's unclear if the rival factions within the PKMS will be able
to reach an agreement and reconcile their differences anytime
soon.
The current team led by President Osman Hassan occupies a
four-storey PKMS building at Changi Road.
--938Live
