Zaid: Anwar and Azmin should go

In a stinging attack on the the PKR leadership, embattled former supreme council member Zaid Ibrahim said de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim and vice-president Azmin Ali "should go".

"If PKR wants to move, Anwar and Azmin should go. Because they are the source of all problems," said Zaid.

Launching his missiles at the most powerful person in PKR - and the one who had personally invited him to join the party last year - Zaid ( right ) said all the problems plaguing the ongoing party elections are due to Anwar.

"I'm not here for a slanging match. All the problems are a manifestation of Anwar himself," he said.

Asked what he meant by this, Zaid said Azmin should withdraw from the deputy presidenctial race, while Anwar should step down from leadership.

"I think Anwar has a lot of personal issues and Azmin also has a lot of issues. (Azmin) has to learn," he said.

At a packed press conference at his house in Petaling Jaya this morning - with half of the crowd made up of his supporters - Zaid said the turning point for Anwar came after the 2008 general election.

"I think it started after 3/08. After such a victory, people started dreaming, people started to lose focus," he said.

PKR needs a leadership overhaul

He also said PKR would need to purge its current leadership in order to move forward after all the crises of the past year, especially with several lawmakers leaving the party.

"There has to be a new

focus, a new leadership. Anwar ( left ), as the de facto leader, has failed to hold the party together.

"Like how he has failed to move the opposition forward with new policies; like how he had failed on Sept 16; like how he had failed to keep the Perak (coalition) intact by allowing his own MPs to jump ship; like how he had the opposition humiliated and in disarray in Batu Sapi.

"It needs to be acknowledged that Pakatan Rakyat will make no further progress with Anwar at the helm."

Asked who should be the new leader of PKR, Zaid joked: "I think I can. But seriously, it's up to the rakyat on this."

Party elections committee 'biased'

Despite having withdrawn from the contest yesterday, as well as having resigned from his post as supreme council member and Federal Territories chairperson, Zaid maintained that he remains a party loyalist and a member.

"My loyalty as a member should not be doubted. I know that the party might want me to leave. But I'm very fond of the party. If they don't want me, that's another story," he said.

Zaid also refuted Anwar's statement yesterday that he had dropped out of the race because of the lack of votes from some divisions in Sabah during last weekend’s voting.

"The problems have been there since the first day, and when I was leading. I've been very consistent when I said 'stop this'. It is not correct for Anwar to say that it is because of Sabah.

"If Anwar himself denies that there is fraud in the party, then he has also lost touch with the party."

He said there was no point showing the PKR elections committee proof of fraud and malpractices in the party polls since "they are biased". He would rather forward his complaints to the Coalition for Free and Fair Elections.

"I know that Anwar knows he's in the wrong. If I have to prove (the polls fraud) to anyone, I'll prove it to someone independent," he added.

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