I told the truth, Zuraida insists after show cause letter

PKR vice-president and Ampang MP Zuraida Kamaruddin hands out oranges to her constituents at a market today.

KUALA LUMPUR: PKR vice-president Zuraida Kamaruddin, who was yesterday issued a show cause letter believed to be over controversial comments made in December aimed at party leaders, is standing by her remarks.

She also believes this is why the party’s disciplinary board will act fairly and will not be influenced by any quarters, including party leaders.

“I was given 14 days to respond. And I will respond to issues raised, although I cannot reveal what the issues are. But what is important is that what I said was the truth,” she told reporters when met at her Ampang constituency today.

Zuraida, a staunch ally of deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali, had been accused of insulting party members and publicly disclosing details of a private conversation with party president Anwar Ibrahim.

The dinner was organised by Azmin shortly after those aligned to his faction boycotted the final day of the PKR national congress in Melaka in December.

Zuraida, who is the housing and local government minister, had claimed then that Anwar had tried to convince her it was Azmin in a sex video that went viral in June.

She also claimed that Anwar’s judgment seemed to have been affected by the influence of the “novice” and “mafia” in the party, which were seen as veiled attacks on PKR communications director Fahmi Fadzil and Perak PKR chief Farhash Wafa Salvador.

Zuraida also brushed aside calls by a majority of PKR state chiefs – minus Sarawak PKR chief Baru Bian, Selangor PKR chief Amirudin Shari and Sabah PKR chief Christina Liew – for her to be sacked for allegedly not contributing to the party.

“That’s not my standard,” the Ampang MP said.

Kedah PKR chief Johari Abdul had said the state chiefs wanted Zuraida out, claiming she was of no help to the party or the president, and was “bad for the party”. - FMT