PETALING JAYA: PKR’s Saifuddin Nasution Ismail has dismissed claims that Rafizi Ramli, his rival for the party’s deputy president post, was instrumental in his appointment as a strategic adviser to the Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng in 2017.
Saifuddin also dismissed claims that Rafizi had made way for him to take the secretary-general’s post in 2016 because he was “jobless” at the time.
“I am not sure what working paper Rafizi is referring to that gave me a position in Penang.
“From what I remember most, he never had a good relationship with Lim, let alone propose my appointment as an adviser to the Penang government,” he said in a statement today.
“The position of adviser was more for strategic reasons and had nothing to do with Rafizi wanting to ‘help’ his friend who was ‘jobless’ after losing in the general election.”
He said he had always maintained close relations with Lim and as such was invited by the then chief minister to be an adviser to the state government.
On the secretary-general’s post, Saifuddin said he was appointed by Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who was the PKR head then, in 2016 because Rafizi was facing a defamation suit filed by the National Feedlot Corp.
Yesterday, Rafizi, a PKR vice-president, spoke of the sacrifices he had made to help Saifuddin, who he said had been “jobless” after being defeated in the 2013 general election.
Rafizi said he made way for Saifuddin to become PKR secretary-general and had come up with a working paper for the Penang state government to appoint Saifuddin as a strategic adviser.
Saifuddin said he had no intention to prolong this exchange with Rafizi and would always respect his rival for the PKR deputy-president post as a “comrade-in-arms”.
“After the PKR election, let us both work together to prepare the party to face the general election with the goal of winning.”
The party elections will be held from May 13-18. - FMT
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