PKR, is there really nobody else?

And thus, the People's Justice Party (PKR) has announced that its president will once again take over Permatang Pauh seat which was vacated when her husband went to jail.

Welcome to the political roundabout world of Malaysian politics, where even after a decade the party has not yet groomed a single new leader in the president's and de facto leader's own backyard.

It was bad enough that she had to be forced to stand in the Kajang state assembly seat marketed as "a step towards Putrajaya".

Now, she has to take on the role of president, most probably head of parliamentary opposition, Kajang assemblywoman and Permatang Pauh lawmaker?

Was there really not a single other candidate available?

Is the naming of Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah as the candidate for Permatang Pauh truly proof that there is an obvious lacking in any new politicians groomed within the ranks of PKR?

Or is this just the familiar plan to simply use the emotional card worthy of Politiko as it seems PKR is to do these days?

Whatever the reasoning, I am not so much baffled as I am disappointed.

For all intents and purposes, the choosing of Dr Wan Azizah for the by-election raises more questions about the inner workings of the party, if anything else.

Yes, they may win the election simply based on the fact that they chose a safe candidate in the safest seat for the Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim dynasty.

And that will be the question everyone will be putting forward. Is PKR absent of political candidate potential, to the point that members of the Anwar household will forever be the only glue that holds the house of cards together?

Is the membership of PKR Permatang Pauh simply limited of potential candidates to namely two people, being Anwar or Dr Wan Azizah?

I am asking these questions because I do not see their succession plan in the upcoming general election. Will Dr Wan Azizah again be running to and from Selangor and Penang yet again then?

The last time PKR rushed to find candidates in 2008, it became a frog festival. In 2013, it suddenly became a free for all in multiple seats out of distrust of its own political ally PAS over its candidates pulling frog stunts while also vying for more power.

It should be time now for them to come up with viable candidates for the next general election and quite frankly, putting a Selangor assemblywoman to run in a Penang parliamentary seat spells disaster.

How will she cope with the need to be in both? Bear in mind that the politicians of today must actually be seen in their constituencies and at least reacting to the news of what is taking place there.

Even if it is the spilling over of the Kajang River.

And quite frankly, one would have thought their allies would warn them of such folly. Even the DAP chose their Penang Chief Minister to have both state assembly and parliament seats in his the state. They did the same with Teresa Kok in 2008.

And while this by-election will once again be determined by nostalgic sentiment for the unfair treatment of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, I do believe the electorate will wise up in the next general election.

That should be the target for all political parties now.

And with two and a half years left, a voter base that is slowly but surely wising up, those sentiments will not last in the long run.

In other words, PKR may win the battle of Permatang Pauh, but if it does not start grooming its candidates and successors, it will lose the Great War to come.