PKR MP Wants to Team Up with PRM to Fend Off BN from Balik Pulau

PKR MP Wants to Team Up with PRM to Fend Off BN from Balik Pulau

by Aidil Syukri

KUALA LUMPUR, 15 NOVEMBER, 2011: Balik Pulau MP Yusmadi Yusoff said he welcomes Parti Rakyat Malaysia’s (PRM) the intention to contest its candidates in Balik Pulau for the next General Election (GE).   Speaking to reporters in a press conference in Parliament today, Yusmadi said, however, for the benefit of the voters in Balik Pulau constituency, he invited PRM to work with Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) in facing Barisan Nasional (BN). He said, as the PRM has the same agenda with PKR which is to defeat the BN, he suggested for PRM President Dr Rohana Ariffin to discuss over this issue in order to benefit Balik Pulau voters. “I am confident that PRM has a good faith in contesting in the GE that is to defeat BN. I welcome their intention to contest the at Balik Pulau because I know that PRM has a long history in Balik Pulau, especially Rohana who has competed in Balik Pulau on PKR ticket, but lost,” said Yusmadi. “I suggest that since we have the same agenda that is to defeat Umno/BN in Balik Pulau, I recommend that Rohana and I to sit together to discuss further for the benefit of the voters in Balik Pulau in the coming election,” he added. “So I am pleased to invite the leadership of the PRM to work together with me in dealing with Umno/BN,” he added. He said he did not feel threatened at all by the PRM proposal to compete in Balik Pulau but what he is worried about is the fate of the voters in the constituency. During its 56th Birthday Celebration PRM President Rohana announced that PRM will be contesting parliamentary seats in Balik Pulau in Penang, Selayang and Petaling Jaya Selantan in Selangor. The list of its candidates for these three constituencies will be announced in the near future. Earlier, Dr Rohana, when contacted by Malaysian Digest this morning, said that it is the party's democratic right to contest in the next general election. However, she said if the opposition is not willing to negotiate then “that's their problem”. Nevertheless, Dr Rohana hopes that the Opposition would not treat them the same as what the government had been doing which is oppressing them. Explaining the reasons to contest in the three constituencies, she said for Balik Pulau, they have contesting there for a long time except in 2008 and felt that they should contest again. She said the party feels that it still has many supporters in that area, so that's why they decided to contest. - mD - Malaysian Digest, 15/11/2011, PKR MP Wants to Team Up with PRM to Fend Off BN from Balik Pulau

PRM Holds 43rd National Congress

PRM Holds 43rd National Congress

PETALING JAYA, 13 NOVEMBER, 2011: Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) held its 43rd National Congress yesterday two days after their 56th anniversary celebration last Friday. The left-wing political party was formed on the 11 November 1955 by its founder Ahmad Boestamam.   The event was held at its headquarters in Petaling Jaya Selatan attended by high profile guests in the likes of PAS Deputy President Mohammad Sabu, Nibong Tebal MP Tan Tee Beng, Kelana Jaya MP Loh Gwo Burne and SAMM leader Badrul Hisham Shaharin popularly known as Chegubard. The highlight of the Congress was went party members elected their new leadership to face new challenges especially in the upcoming General Election in which they will be actively involved. Below are the names of the new PRM leadership : President: Dr Rohana Ariffin Deputy President: SK Song Vice Presidents: G Palaniandy, Tan Chin Hong, Koh Swee Yong Secretary General: Al Jafree Md Yusop Treasurer: Mohd Yusuf Che Ya During its 56th Birthday Celebration party President Rohana announced that PRM will be contesting parliamentary seats in Balik Pulau in Penang, Selayang and Petaling Jaya Selantan in Selangor. The list of candidates will be announced in the near future.     - mD - Malaysian Digest, 14/11/2011, PRM Holds 43rd National Congress

PRM tetap mahu rampas tiga kerusi PKR (Malaysiakini)

Tajuk berita adalah keputusan pihak media, dan boleh mengelirukan pembaca. Apa yang berlaku adalah pernyataan PRM niat mereka bertanding dalam pilihanraya akan datang menentang Barisan Nasional - dan bukan untuk menentang PKR. PRM memilih kerusi yang bakal ditandingi berasaskan sejarah kerja parti di kawasan terbabit dan sokongan, serta juga wujudnya calun sesuai untuk kawasan tersebut.

PRM tetap mahu rampas tiga kerusi PKR

12:25PM Nov 15, 2011

Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) menegaskan mempunyai hak demokratik untuk bertanding di tiga kerusi yang kini dikuasai PKR dalam pilihan raya umum akan datang; dan sekiranya Pakatan Rakyat menolaknya, itu "masalah mereka".

"Sekiranya pembangkang tidak bersedia berunding, itu masalah mereka," kata Presiden PRM Rohana Ariffin.

Beliau berkata, pembangkang tidak seharusnya menekan "seperti yang dilakukan kerajaan".

Parti itu semalam mengumumkan akan bertanding di Balik Pulau, Selayang dan Petaling Jaya Selatan yang dipegang Yusmadi Yusof, William Leong dan Hee Loy Sian.

Sekiranya perkara itu tidak dapat diselesaikan, maka pilihan raya umum yang dijangkakan seawal tahun depan akan menyaksikan pertandingan tiga penjuru antara kedua-dua parti berkenaan dan BN. - Malaysiakini, 15/11/2011, PRM tetap mahu rampas tiga kerusi PKR

PKR bakal berdepan PRM di Balik Pulau, PJS, Selayang (Malaysiakini)

Tajuk berita adalah keputusan pihak media, dan boleh mengelirukan pembaca. Apa yang berlaku adalah pernyataan PRM niat mereka bertanding dalam pilihanraya akan datang menentang Barisan Nasional - dan bukan untuk menentang PKR. PRM memilih kerusi yang bakal ditandingi berasaskan sejarah kerja parti di kawasan terbabit dan sokongan, serta juga wujudnya calun sesuai untuk kawasan tersebut.

PKR bakal berdepan PRM di Balik Pulau, PJS, Selayang

1:06PM Nov 14, 2011

Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) hari ini mengumumkan bahawa ia akan bertanding di tiga kerusi yang sekarang ini dipegang oleh PKR pada pilihan raya umum akan datang.

Dalam satu kenyataan media, presiden PRM yang baru dilantik, Rohana Ariffin berkata, parti itu akan bertanding di Balik Pulau di Pulau Pinang dan kerusi Selayang serta Petaling Jaya Selatan di Selangor.

Ketiga-tiga kerusi itu kini dipegang oleh Yusmadi Yusof, William Leong dan Hee Loy Sian.

Melainkan PRM mampu menyelesaikan perkara itu dengan PKR, maka pilihan raya umum kali ini yang dijangkakan seawal tahun depan, akan menyaksikan sekurang-kurangnya pertandingan tiga penjuru di antara kedua-dua parti berkenaan dan BN.

Adalah difahamkan bahawa buat masa ini belum ada pertemuan di antara PRM dan PKR bagi membincangkan perkara itu tetapi PKR dijangka mengeluarkan satu kenyataan apabila biro politiknya bermesyuarat pada Rabu ini.

PRM dikatakan telah bergabung dengan dengan ahli serpihan PKR, iaitu Parti Keadilan Nasional pada tahun 2003 selepas perbincangan yang berlarutan antara kedua-dua pihak.

Beberapa pihak dalam PRM mendakwa sebilangan besar ahli-ahlinya menentang penggabungan itu dan ia masih berfungsi sebagai sebuah parti politik,dan terus diiktiraf sebagai sebuah entiti yang berasingan oleh Pendaftar Pertubuhan.

Walau bagaimanapun, pemimpin PKR, termasuk mereka yang pernah menganggotai parti berhaluan kiri yang ditubuhkan oleh oleh pejuang kemerdekaan Ahmad Boestamam pada tahun 1955 itu, menegaskan bahawa PRM tidak lagi wujud.

Dakwa mereka sesetengah pemimpin, seperti bekas presiden, (kanan) dan setiausaha agung SK Song - yang merupakan antara mereka yang berkeras mempertahankan kewujudan PRM - juga telah bertanding pada pilihan raya umum 2004 di bawah tiket PKR. - Malaysiakini, 14/11/2011, PKR bakal berdepan PRM di Balik Pulau, PJS, Selayang

No bowing out for the seladang (Star)

PRM, the only left-wing party in the country, is looking for a resurgence in the coming general election

A DIE-HARD Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) supporter trudged up a long flight of stairs to the party headquarters on the third floor of a shoplot in Petaling Jaya.

I could literally hear the 57-year-old man’s knee creaking as he spiritedly - one step at a time - advanced towards where PRM was celebrating its 56th birthday on Friday.

On the way up, he talked about the days in the 1960s when, as a boy, he put up PRM posters during the election campaign against the “kapal layar” (the sailboat logo of the Alliance, predecessor to Barisan Nasional).

Quiet celebration: Joining Rohana in cutting the PRM anniversary cake are (from left) treasurer Teh Soon Ming, secretary-general R.N. Rajah and central working committee member Zulkarnain Abdullah at the party headquarters in Petaling Jaya last Friday.

“It was during the Vietnam War era when anti-Americanism was the rage and support for the party was at its height,” he recalled.

PRM won the parliamentary seats of Kuala Lumpur and Johor Baru in the 1959 general election.

At 11am sharp on 11.11.11, PRM president Rohana Ariffin and her comrades cut a cake with the party’s logo - the head of a seladang (the Malayan gaur), witnessed by about 50 people, including two party members who were ISA detainees.

After the party, I spoke to Rohana, a retired associate professor of Universiti Sains Malaysia.

A bit wary of attending a party with leftist leanings as it is the season to attack all things linked to Socialism, I asked the president to explain her party.        

“The socialist party - as far as we know it in Malaysia - believes in the democratic process of being elected into power and not through armed revolution,” said the 60-something who was wearing a red bandana.

“If you ask what socialist ideology is, it believes that all production of the country should be for the consumption of the rakyat first and not so much for profit.

“You can make a certain amount of profit but the rakyat’s interest comes first, especially that of the working class.”

PRM is one of Malaysia’s oldest political parties. It was founded as Parti Rakyat on Nov 11, 1955 by Ahmad Boestamam, Dr Burhanuddin Al Helmy and Ishak Mohamad.

“The party was strong in the 1960s and 1970s. But since it was the only legitimate left-wing party in the country at that time, the Government came down hard on people with socialist ideologies,” said Rohana.

“When you look at the evolution of the party, most PRM leaders (such as Boestamam, Kassim Ahmad and Syed Husin Ali) have been detained in prison.”

In 2003, PRM was thought to have been dissolved when it merged with Parti Keadilan Nasional to form Parti Keadilan Rakyat.

“At that time, the party leadership was quite ‘tired’ because society would not accept us as they saw PRM as left-wing and there was a popular movement which was Keadilan, so they decided to merge.”

However, like the seladang, PRM stubbornly refused to become extinct.

“The only problem with the merger was that we should have had a last delegates’ meeting to dissolve the party in an honourable manner,” Rohana recalled.

But in the haste to merge, the leadership “forgot” to do so.

In 2005, die-hard supporters convened a national congress and “resurrected” the party as it was never de-registered.

During the interview with Rohana, PRM supporters would quietly slip RM10 or RM50 to the party president as they bid goodbye to her.

“This is our culture,” she explained. “We are a very poor party and we rely on financial support from our members. Usually what we do is pay with our own money for an event we organise and then our members will give donations.”

It is heart-warming for Rohana to see die-hard supporters climb the steps to attend the party’s event.

“For example, there was a 70-something member who came from Sungai Tembiling (in Pahang) by boat and bus and he told me, ‘Parti Rakyat is my party and I will never change’,” Rohana related.

“And even among the young the spirit is there. Our party is rejuvenated by the young who are interested in left-wing politics.”

The young, she said, were fed up with the infighting in Parliament between the Government and the Opposition.

“There is no compromise or middle ground in any issue that the two coalitions can’t see the trees for the forest.”

The party is seeking relevance in the next election.

It is targeting to contest in seats like Selayang, Balik Pulau and Petaling Jaya Selatan.

The seladang, which can’t be put to pasture, is hoping left-wing politics will make a resurgence.- Star, 14/11/2011, No bowing out for the seladang

PRM to challenge PKR in Balik Pulau, PJS, Selayang

PRM to challenge PKR in Balik Pulau, PJS, Selayang

 

12:36PM Nov 14, 2011

Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) has announced it would contest in three parliamentary seats currently held by PKR in the upcoming general election.

In a statement issued today, PRM said its newly-elected president Dr Rohana Ariffin (left) had announced it would contest in Balik Pulau in Penang, and Selayang and Petaling Jaya Selatan in Selangor.

The three constituencies are represented by Yusmadi Yusof, William Leong and Hee Loy Sian, respectively.

Unless PRM can resolve the matter with PKR, therefore, there will be a three-corner fight between the two parties and BN in the next polls, which some expect to be held early next year.

It is understood that there is currently no deal between PRM and PKR. The latter is expected to issue a statement when its political bureau meets on Wednesday evening.

PRM was said to have merged with PKR precursor Parti Keadilan Nasional in 2003 after protracted discussions between leaders of the two parties.

A faction within PRM, however, claims a significant number of its members were against the merger, that it is still functioning as a political party, and is still recognised as a separate entity by the Registrar of Societies.

PKR leaders, however, including those formerly in the leadership of the leftist party founded in 1955 by independence fighter and one-time MP Ahmad Boestamam, have insisted PRM no longer exists.

They point out that some of its leaders, such as former president Hassan Abdul Karim ( right) and secretary-general SK Song - who were among those who insisted on PRM’s continued existence - had even contested the 2004 general election under the PKR banner.

They had also attended the first merged congress of PKR in 2005 held in Ipoh and witnessed the democratic process of the election to elect committee members.

In the statement today, PRM also announced its new lineup following party elections held over the weekend at its headquarters in Petaling Jaya Selatan.

Beside Dr Rohana, the others elected to PRM's new leadership were Song (deputy president) and G Palaniandy, Tan Chin Hong, Koh Swee Yong as vice presidents.

Al Jafree Md Yusop was elected secretary general, and Mohd Yusuf Che Ya as treasurer.

Among those in attendance at the congress were PAS deputy president Mohammad Sabu, Kita's Nibong Tebal MP Tan Tee Beng, PKR's Kelana Jaya MP Loh Gwo Burne and ex-PKR youth leader Badrul Hisham Shaharin. - Malaysiakini, 14/11/2011, PRM to challenge PKR in Balik Pulau, PJS, Selayang

 

Parti PRM, Puan Rohana Ariffin tidak berbelah bahagi menyatakan sokongan akan hadir menjayakan Perhimpunan Bersih 2.0 pada 9 Julai 2011

 

Parti PRM, Puan Rohana Ariffin tidak berbelah bahagi menyatakan sokongan akan hadir menjayakan Perhimpunan Bersih 2.0 pada 9 Julai 2011 

 YB Teresa Kok dari DAP menyelar tindakan PERKASA untuk berhimpun membantah Perhimpunan Bersih 2.0 yang termaktub dalam perlembagaan Malaysia tentang hak untuk berhimpun

YB Syed Azman dari PAS menyatakan sokongan 100% dan akan mengerahkan 100,000 ahli PAS hadir ke Perhimpunan Bersih 2.0

YB Nurul Izzah mewakili PKR menyatakan sokongan 100% terhadap Perhimpunan Bersih 2.0

Pengerusi Bersih 2.0, Datuk S Ambiga menyatakan akan meneruskan Perhimpunan Bersih 2.0 walaupun mendapat tentangan yang hebat daripada pelbagai pihak

Sebanyak 8 tuntutan dikemukakan sempena Perhimpunan Bersih 2.0

Dianggarkan lebih 2,000 orang telah hadir di majlis Perasmian Perhimpunan Bersih 2.0 

 

Saari bersama Aliza, Pak Long dan rakan-rakan dari Segamat Johor yang hadir di Majlis Perasmian menyatakan sokongan kepada Bersih 2.0

Saari bersama seorang kanak-kanak istimewa, anak kepada seorang aktivis yang hadir menyatakan sokongan