Four years ago on May 9, 2018, Malaysia experienced a landmark moment as Umno’s 61-year rule came crashing down. The victorious coalition was helmed by veteran premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad but its largest party was PKR, a multi-racial political outfit with social justice at its core.

With PKR president Anwar Ibrahim poised to take over as prime minister, the future was bright for the party of reformists. However, things did not go down as planned.

Fast forward to today, the party has seen a series of outright betrayals and bitter disappointments. There was an implosion in PKR and as if the defections of more than a dozen MPs since the Sheraton Move was not painful enough, voters in state polls held since have also deserted the party.

It only picked up two seats in the Sabah election before coming up empty-handed in Sarawak and Malacca. In the latest Johor polls, it only won a solitary seat.

Furthermore, a number of divisive party polls in the past contributed to the catastrophic Sheraton Move split, so there is a legitimate concern that the next party election due in a matter of weeks could finish the party off if there is another round of bruising.

It is against this backdrop that a new generation of PKR leaders will try to...