Saifuddin unmoved by 10,000 to quit PKR if Zuraida sacked threat

PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail is unperturbed by a Penang grassroots threat that 10,000 party members will quit if vice-president Zuraida Kamaruddin is sacked.

He said 10,000 is the number of new members who join PKR each week.

"(10,000 quitting) is not certain, just a statement. During a demonstration, temperatures are high. So when journalists ask, they will say 10,000.

"I don't know how many want to quit, but as secretary-general, my weekly task is to update the political bureau about new membership, and that's 10,000 a week," Saifuddin told reporters in Kajang, Selangor today.

Zuraida is currently under disciplinary review, believed to be over remarks made against PKR president Anwar Ibrahim at a dinner last December, following a deeply divisive party congress.

The threat of 10,000 Penang PKR members quitting was made at a rally supporting her yesterday.

Meanwhile, Saifuddin said he will not be withdrawing his letter of demand against Zuraida, over allegedly defamatory remarks she made against him at the same December dinner.

He said he has never sued anyone before in his 33 years as a politician, but what the PKR vice-president said "was too much".

"The accusation against me was specific, that I received millions from the Kelantan PAS government when I was serving in the state," he said referring to his time as the state's Tabung Tok Kenali manager from 2004 and 2007.

"There has to be a stop to this kind of things." 

He said he will wait for her response before deciding whether to proceed with a lawsuit.

Saifuddin and Zuraida are both cabinet ministers.

However, he said the infighting in the party will not affect the planned transition for Anwar to become prime minister as Pakatan Harapan still has consensus on the matter. - Mkini