Bring it on, Zuraida tells PKR over RM10 mil suit

 

Former PKR vice-president Zuraida Kamaruddin said the party was now relying on “cheap publicity stunts”.

PETALING JAYA: Former PKR vice-president Zuraida Kamaruddin has dismissed her former party’s suit claiming RM10 million from her as a waste of the courts’ time, and telling the Anwar Ibrahim-led party to “bring it on”.

She said she was not surprised that PKR was filing “such an absurd claim” in court, adding that PKR was now relying on “sensationalism and cheap publicity stunts” as it was running low on ideas to improve the people’s lives.

“I left PKR because it no longer focused on the welfare of the people, but on the prime ministerial ambitions of one man.

“To have stayed on in such a thoughtless party would have been against my conscience. As for this utterly frivolous suit against me, bring it on!” she said in a statement today.

This comes after PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail filed a suit on behalf of the party claiming RM10 million from Zuraida.

The suit is pursuant to a bond in which Zuraida agreed to pay the party RM10 million in the event she resigned from the party, joined another political party or became an independent elected representative.

Zuraida said the courts would not be able to enforce any agreement that breached the Federal Constitution, citing Article 10 of the Federal Constitution and the Federal Court’s decision in the case of Nordin Salleh v Dewan Undangan Negeri Kelantan.

“PKR seems unaware that in our democracy, elected representatives are free to leave their political parties. In fact, I was sacked,” she added.

Nordin (Sungai Pinang) had won his state seat on the then-Semangat 46 ticket in the 1990 general election.

However, he defected to Umno in 1991. The Kelantan state assembly amended the state constitution and passed an anti-hopping law that took retrospective effect from Nov 18, 1990.

The speaker then declared the seat vacant. Nordin contested again in a by-election but lost.

He then sought legal remedy and the Supreme Court in 1992 held that the amendment to the state constitution was designed to enforce party discipline, not impose restrictions on state assemblymen.

The court said the amendment breached Article 10 of the Federal Constitution which guarantees freedom of association. Nordin was subsequently reinstated as assemblyman. - FMT