Dozens gather to welcome return of sacked PKR member

Dozens of supporters gathered at KLIA to greet sacked PKR member Zakaria Abdul Hamid who arrived from Taipei tonight.

The group, comprising mostly Pahang PKR members, were in high spirits, protesting what they claimed to be an unjust move announced by the party's disciplinary board on Sunday.

Zakaria addressed his supporters at around 8.45pm and appeared buoyed by their show of support.

"I am quite surprised... I am just a small party worker.

"I did not expect my work over the past 20 years will be met by this amount of support," said Zakaria, a former PKR central leadership council member and Bera division chief.

Speaking to reporters later, Zakaria (photo) maintained that he has yet to be notified of his sacking or the allegedly serious charges levelled against him.

Zakaria also maintained that he would wait for an official letter from the party before deciding his next move.

"As of now, I have yet to receive the letter. I will go through the contents after I received it and deliberate on my response," he said.

PKR's disciplinary board chairperson Ahmad Kassim had on Sunday announced that Zakaria, together with Pahang PKR member Ismail Dulhadi, has been sacked with immediate effect over suspicion of corruption and bribery.

He said the board made the decision after being advised by MACC via a letter dated Oct 23, 2019.

MACC later admitted that it erred in sending the letter advising disciplinary action against Zakaria and Ismail.

Its deputy chief commissioner, Azam Baki on Monday said the letter was meant for the relevant government agency and ministry and not PKR's leadership.

Given MACC's admission of its mistake, Zakaria said PKR must now apologise and clear his name from allegations of corruption, particularly as there have been no formal charges pressed against him.

"I ask the central leadership council to publicly apologise and clear my name from the corruption allegations, which in my opinion is false and maybe also in the view of MACC," he said.

The MACC investigation followed a report filed by PKR Youth coordinator Ahmad Syukri Che Ab Razak in September last year.

Zakaria was said to have offered contracts worth RM20,000 and allocations amounting to at least RM300,000 at a meeting with local leaders on Sept 1, around the time he was running for a seat in the PKR central leadership council.

Addressing the allegations, Zakaria, a former aid to Works Minister Baru Bian, said he recalled only responding to questions from local PKR branch leaders from Bera on the procedure to apply for small projects advertised by their local council.

"There was no element of pressure or threats made to secure the projects (for them) and there were no bribes," he said.

Among supporters present include Bentong PKR division chief Dasimah Zainudin, 61, who brought along around 20 members.

"In the beginning, we defended (party president) Anwar Ibrahim from injustice.

"So it is only right that today we gather to defend Zakaria Hamid," she said.

The crowd also raised banners declaring solidarity with Zakaria and protesting what they insisted was an unjust act which goes against the party's founding principles. - Mkini