Foreign funds transform PKR from poor to RICH PARTY?

KUALA LUMPUR - Parti Keadilan Rakyat's former Youth Information chief Shamsul Hidayat Mohd Shariff today claimed that funds from foreign countries had transformed Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) from being a poor party to a rich one.

Shamsul, who was a member of the Bersih 1 rally committee in 2007, said he had previously worked at PKR's headquarters in Brickfields and at the time, the party was so poor that it could not afford to pay the salaries of its employees for two to three months.

"When the PKR leadership proposed to hold the Bersih 1 illegal demonstration, funds from other countries started pouring in and the party's image changed.

PKR flags were also contributed by sources outside the country and the flags were not ordered from Malaysia," he told reporters at the Umno headquarters here today.

Shamsul said he would not be surprised if the rally organised by the opposition this Saturday would bring in more funds for PKR to utilise in the 13th general election.

Shamsul said he quit PKR after realising that the party had diverted from its original struggle.

Earlier, Samsul had handed his application form to join Umno at the party's headquarters, witnessed by Umno Information chief Datuk Ahmad Maslan. Joining him were another two of Anwar's former staunch supporters, lawyer Saiful Ambar Abdullah Ambar and local university student Mohamad Asrul Md Jalani.

Saiful Ambar was the counsel for former Penang PKR Wanita chief Aminah Abdullah who had also left the party because she felt it had shifted from its objectives.

– Bernama