Known also as People's Justice Party, the part is led by former Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. It is a centrist political party formed in 2003 which was merged between the National Justice Party and the Malaysian People's Party.

The formation of the party was widely prompted after Anwar was sacked from his Deputy Prime Minister post and arrested. Many seen then that the PKR was created as a personal grudge held by Anwar against the government. PKR or Keadilan, which was led by his wife Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail could only win one seat during the elections, which gave the party the sole voice in the parliament.

PKR, however over the past few years and with the release of Anwar has since garnered very strong support and the last elections saw them rising among the single digit to 31 seats. The fact that the people were more vocal in supporting the PKR perhaps have much to do with the fact that the party is actively seeking social injustice and anti-corruption agenda. They have even voiced a need to abolish the New Economic Policy and that it should be replaced with a more non-ethnic approach. This was welcomed by many and hence their landslide victory over the BN candidates.

Many believed that Anwar's downfall as the Finance Minister was his series of economic reforms and his controversial proposals to amend the Anti Corruption Act which was then did not coincide with the then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. This led to him being sacked and alleged charges of sexual misconduct as well as corruption.

He then moved onto his Reformasi movement, which was championed wholly by the Parti Keadilan Nasional, led by Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, his wife. this effort was then taken on by other opposition parties like DAP, PAS and PRM which formed the Barisan Alternatif (Alternative Front) to prepare for the 1999 General Elections.

Disappointingly, the elections saw that the Barisan Alternatif losing out more seats than expected seeing that the BN government maintained their two-third majority to then form the federal government. One of the reasons why Keadilan lost badly in the 1999 general elections was as believed by many because the party's leaders like Vice-President Tian Chua, Youth leader Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor, Mohamed Azmin Ali , Fairus Izuddin and Dr Badrul Amin Baharun; were all under arrest and could not contest in the elections.

Later on, the Keadilan merged with the Parti Rakyat Malaysia and was then renamed as Parti Keadilan Rakyat in August 2003. In 2004, Anwar was freed and his charges were overturned and in 2005, the second national congress was held where they passed the New Economic Agenda which are created to replace the New Economic Policy.

PKR was later joined by Khalid Ibrahim, the former CEO of Guthrie and Permodalan Nasional Berhad where he assume the Treasurer Post, KS Nallakarupan and Jeffrey Kitingan.

PKR's breakthrough came in the 2008 elections where they won 31 seats together with DAP and PAS where together would hold 82 Parliamentary seats. This would be a strong voice as compared to BN's 140 seats. This would subsequently deny the BN government the two third majority in making any constitutional change.

The PKR too has been successful in the state level where they came away with victories that secured 5 states onto the loose coalition of DAP, PAS and Keadilan.

After the elections, Anwar returned to politics after his ban from public office expired. It is widely believed that the reason opposition won so well in the elections were largely contributed by the fact that Anwar was the leader of the party, and keeping in view that he will be returning soon, many put their faith in him, standing behind the party.

Helmi - MalaysiaToday.com.my

10 Comments

johar August 02, 2008 219.93.152.21 Votes: +9	syukur jika dsai dpt bertanding di permatang pauh,mudah2an menang rakyat pastinyer menyokong penuh..kasian dsai teraniaya, dianiaya,malah pulak penyiasatan yg tidak adil sama sekali,mengapa pkr tidak mau mengambil tindakan yg sama,buat tuduhan yang sama(liwat)keatas orang yg disyaki merancang ,maka rakyat akan nampak,adakah penyiasatan yg di jalankan sama sebagaimana keats dsai report abuse vote down vote up
myul August 11, 2008 60.50.190.224 Votes: -5	PKR, sebuah parti yang terasnya bukan Melayu walaupun dipimpin oleh DSAI. Jika pakatan rakyat berjaya menumbangkan kerajaan BN, maka rakyat malaysia akan menyaksikan tokoh-tokoh dr DAP(Lim Kit Siang, Karpal Singh dll) dan Hindraf memegang jawatan penting dlm kerajaan spt TPM, Kewangan dll. Adakah juga berbaloi jika DEB dan hak keistimewaan melayu dihapuskan ketika era pakatan rakyat berkuasa ? report abuse vote down vote up
answar August 12, 2008 60.50.52.230 Votes: -1	Hancur.............. manasabah ke kalau nak pekena kat dia,.......jgnlah demi maruah diri nak gadai semua nyawa dan bangsa pula, kepada penyokong2 DSAI , cuba panjat pagar sat dah tu pejam mata seminit dua..........hang tau-lah nak terjun sebelah mana. Sebab aku ni atas pagar bila mai kes ni, akulah penyokong sebenar UMNO !!!!! report abuse vote down vote up
zenith August 17, 2008 60.48.108.11 Votes: +7	BUMIPUTRA di bumi sendiri masih perlu dilindungi ke!? RED INDIANS di AMERIKA diberikan lindungan seperti itu kerana mereka ditindas oleh penjajah pada masa lalu, tetapa sekarang mereka merupakan sekelompok penduduk yang berdaya saing tampa menhiraukan bantuan yang sebereno macam ni! MELAYU perlukan lagi HAK ISTEMEWA itu lagi kah!? Sampai bila baru nak cerai susu!? HAK BUMIPUTRA disalahgunakan oleh golongan ELIT kerajjan untuk tujuan PERKAYAKAN DIRI, KRONI DAN MENJUAL APA2 YANG DILEBEL RIZAB BUMIPUTRA! Belum tahu lagi? Rajin2 pergi cari keratan akhbar kawanku, buka minda, anda dibelungu ketakutan, ketakutan itu merupakan kuasa MEREKA BN/UMNO mengawal anda. FIKIR FIKIRLAH....... report abuse vote down vote up
sokong August 25, 2008 60.52.126.166 Votes: +4	sokong DSAI jadi PM diikuti TPM dap dan pas .DSAI sebagai penasihat menteri kewangan dan pertahanan dan kedua-dua jawatan disandang oleh dap.hak keistimewaan melayu dan agama dipegang oleh pas. kehakiman dipegang dari ngo tiada sebarang kaitan dgn politik atau kerajaan. report abuse vote down vote up
farouk August 26, 2008 60.48.228.140 Votes: +4	aku dh lama tunggu bila BN nk tumbang...hrp2 DSAI menang besar masa election esk...aku doakn semoga berjaya...aku x percaya 100% tntang kes yg d kaitkn baru2 nie terhadap DSAI.. budak tu mmg bodoh.... report abuse vote down vote up
maria August 26, 2008 60.52.200.32 Votes: +2	Yesterday I saw 7 express busses escorted with police and today another 5 express busses escorted with police passing by... hmm.. wonder where are they heading?? where they want to bring these people?? And suddenly I believe that they are those "ghost"!!! report abuse vote down vote up
care September 04, 2008 218.111.163.157 Votes: +2	DSAI dah jumpa Agong to form new G. he submitted MPs names that will come together to support his vision for rakyat. report abuse vote down vote up
anak y.b September 08, 2008 60.53.227.129 Votes: +0	poyola PKR..ntah ape yg korang nk pun tk tau..kitekan dh idup aman, negara kite pun dh maju, so tk pyhla nk reform new gov, korng tk blaja sejarah ke?ingt sng ke kite nk merdeka?? report abuse vote down vote up
ngo September 11, 2008 219.93.152.130 Votes: -2	DSAI gila kuasa.... kalaulah 16 sptmbr ni berlaku diharap wkil PAS yg jdi PM.... kalau btl DSAI pemimpin yg baik dn bertangungjawab tunggulah PR-13... jika Ahli Parlimen BN melompat ke Parti PR, rakyat yg telah mengundi tetap menyokong BN. Jadi parlimen tetap dibubarkan kerana PM masih berkuasa... DSAI tdk perlulah nak jadi PM, rekod kepimpinannya semasa kerajaan pun bukan baik sangat, nak membalas dendam ja tu... jadi kena fikir2 betul... report abuse vote down vote up

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