The eight-page handwritten letter from jailed former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim to remind PKR leaders not to get carried away with Dr Mahathir Mohamad's Citizens' Declaration is timely, said party vice-president Rafizi Ramli.

“It puts back the original context and framework within which any further collaboration should be pursued.

“More importantly, it reminds party leaders there is no shortcut in defeating BN and not to go astray from the reform agenda.

“Now that the message is public, I am sure party leaders from grassroots to national leaders will reflect and re-adjust our focus,” he told Malaysiakini.

When the contents of the letter were first produced on a Penang PKR Youth Facebook page, party vice-president Shamsul Iskandar Md Akin had denied it, arguing that Anwar remained supportive of the declaration and its objectives.

However, Rafizi (photo) later confirmed that the letter is authentic, which hinted at the possibility of PKR being divided over the current state of affairs.

As for the letter itself, it described the Citizens' Declaration as being a Mahathir document in principle, flawed and inconsistent with PKR's reform agenda.

The hard-hitting letter also cautioned PKR leaders of the pitfalls with regard to working with the former premier and former finance minister Daim Zainuddin as well as highlighted concerns and disappointment of being exploited for their agenda.

To illustrate his point, Anwar, who is serving a five-year prison term, also quoted the words of Shakespeare, “The serpent that did sting, now wears the crown”.

The letter came in the wake of Mahathir's disclosure that more than one million people had inked the declaration.

The chronology of events

Meanwhile, Rafizi, who is also PKR secretary-general, revealed what had transpired from the moment former law minister Zaid Ibrahim had mooted his gathering to protest the leadership of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

He said when Zaid approached several PKR leaders, the issue was discussed by the party.

In principle, he added, as long as the issues raised by Mahathir were in agreement or echoed PKR and Pakatan Harapan's stand, there was no problem to agree on common issues.

“After all we do not shoot the messenger so to speak,” he pointed out.

Rafizi said it was in this context and framework that the PKR leadership discussed the Citizens' Declaration

“After some discussions, the party decided that instead of just (PKR deputy president) Azmin Ali to be present at the signing on March 4, I should be present as well to avoid accusations that the party leadership was not solid in the decision to associate with the declaration.

“The declaration itself, as a one-off signing event, was not much of an issue because the key points on 1MDB and Najib’s mismanagement had been repeated by PKR and Pakatan Harapan all along,” he added.

'PKR and Harapan were cautious'

However, the Pandan lawmaker said PKR and Pakatan Harapan were cautious that while the two would not shun Mahathir’s criticism of Najib, the reform agenda must be driven through PKR and the opposition coalition.

Based on this, he revealed that the Pakatan Harapan presidential council meeting on March 7 decided on four points, which were:

1) Pakatan Harapan to start a nationwide state-by-state gathering called 'Muafakat Selamatkan Malaysia' (Save Malaysia Group) that focused on three key demands - reform of institutions, release of Anwar (fully aware that without Anwar it is difficult to forge a truly cohesive opposition alliance), resignation of Najib;

2) That Pakatan Harapan will extend its invitation to anyone who shares the same principles and ideals including Mahathir and other ex-leaders of Umno;

3) To retain the focus on key public issues including prices, jobs, higher education fees and so on; and

4) To call for a demonstration on April 2 to condemn the first anniversary of GST.

“Hence, the first Pakatan Harapan platform was organised in Pandan on March 28. Mahathir came at last minute notice and was given the space to give a speech against the backdrop of the demands, including freeing Anwar.

“Unfortunately, subsequent events did not stick to the agreement and eventually the whole focus of the Citizens' Declaration seemed to revolve around the removal of Najib.

“Lately, there were even remarks that the Citizens' Declaration was to remove Najib but maintain BN’s government,” he said.

Rafizi noted that Anwar had stated from the beginning that while he is open to agreeing on common public issues like 1MDB, he was against joining hands with Mahathir.

“This is because he feared that will eclipse the consistency of reform messages that we will bring forth, since admittedly the focus will be on what Mahathir says,” he added.

Since the objective of obtaining a million signatures had been achieved, Rafizi said it would be best for PKR and Pakatan Harapan to return to key basic issues affecting the people.

He added that issues such as the rising cost of living, expensive higher education, housing and employment had taken a backseat for over two months due to the declaration.

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