PKR must take pains to avoid any taint of sexism, racism and other bigotries, the better to make it the party of choice of Malaysians striving to to free themselves from the yoke of Umno-BN rule that is drenched in these negatives.

PKR Wanita communications chief Carolyn Khor said this when commenting on what she called the “unfortunate controversy” over a leaked WhatsApp message from Selangor PKR Youth deputy chief Zainol Abidin Mohamad that reeked of sexism.

A screenshot of the WhatsApp message is making the rounds on social media with the result, said Carolyn, that “the party is put on the defensive because of the sexism of the message.”

Zainol had chastised Halimah Nasoha, a dropped PKR Wanita Youth exco member, for what he saw as revealing attire in a picture of her with party colleagues that was also in circulation on social media.

Halimah, supposedly a serial absentee at wanita youth exco meetings, had waded into a controversy by urging a halt to the public feuding between former PKR gadfly Badrul Hisham Shaharin and Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali.

In the latest flare-up between the two, Badrul, more popularly known as ‘Chegubard’, had asked Azmin to come clean on logging concessions in the state that he alleged were awarded without open tender.

“We live in an age where social media is pervasive and so anything we say that veers a little from what is proper and correct will boomerang on us,” commented Carolyn ( photo ) on the controversy that has sparked from a combination of Chegubard’s allegations, Halimah’s reputed absences and comments, and Zainol’s strictures on attire.

“Let’s be known as a party that focuses on the substance of issues rather than on the fluff and sidebars,” remarked Carolyn, a party activist from Penang with good support across sectarian lines.

“We are up against a ruling coalition that is smart at the game of shadowplay to divert public attention from issues that matter to things that don’t,” she elaborated.

“By strictly keeping to the substance of issues than the diversions that annoy and exasperate us, we can better project the party as the preference of Malaysians who want the major issues of the day resolved rather that tarried or trifled with,” she asserted.

“Let’s keep our eyes on what matters. That way the rakyat will know we are serious about reform and not imposters and clowns like some politicians we know,” she remarked.