Wednesday, February 2, 2022

Bersatu probing Zuraida, mulls sacking her over alleged PBM link

 


Bersatu's supreme council recently discussed firing its member Zuraida Kamaruddin and others in the party over alleged involvement with Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM), a new political outfit set up by a group of former PKR leaders known to be aligned with her.

Supreme council member Muhammad Faiz Na'aman told Malaysiakini that the matter was brought up during its most recent meeting on Jan 25.

However, according to him, the council has not made any decision pending further investigation by the party.

"The issue was touched during the latest Bersatu Supreme Council meeting as Zuraida was seen to have involvement in the forming of PBM, either directly or indirectly.

"Because, it can be said that all her followers have jumped to PBM, and she herself also did not state her position about the matter either openly or with the council.

"But it was only a discussion. No concrete decision yet. The matter is still under investigation," Faiz said.

Zuraida, who is currently the Plantation Industries and Commodities minister, used to be a PKR vice-president before the Anwar Ibrahim-led party sacked her for her role in 2020's Sheraton Move that caused the collapse of the then Pakatan Harapan federal government.

Bersatu Supreme Council member Muhammad Faiz Na'aman

She then joined Bersatu together with former PKR deputy president Azmin Ali, who PKR also sacked over his role in the political coup. Both of them were later appointed to the Bersatu Supreme Council.

Since then, Zuraida was rumoured to be planning to form a new political party. The rumour grew stronger when several former PKR leaders aligned to Zuraida and Azmin founded PBM late last year.

In December, Zuraida's former political secretary, Nor Hizwan Ahmad, announced that he had quit Bersatu to join PBM and that he was bringing along 53,000 members of Penggerak Komuniti Negara (PKN), an NGO linked to Zuraida.

'No longer loyal'

Faiz said the supreme council meeting also discussed actions that should be taken against other figures in Bersatu who are involved with PBM and those who have defected to PBM but are still holding on to positions in the government that they received on Bersatu's ticket.

"All these will be looked into by the Party Management Committee under Faizal as its chairperson if there are reports from the grassroots," he said, referring to Bersatu deputy president Ahmad Faizal Azumu.

On Zuraida, Faiz said the Bersatu Supreme Council would be leaving the issue to the party's disciplinary and political bureaus.

"Personally, I see that she no longer has any loyalty to Bersatu and leadership of Muhyiddin (Yassin). I am saying this based on inside information that I have received about her.

"This came from another council member who had been communicating with her," Faiz added.

The politician said he believed that Zuraida should also be called to explain her position.

He said all the allegations against Zuraida and others implicated in the PBM issue should be investigated so that there is clear evidence. - Mkini

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