Bersatu pioneer quits, cites favouritism and loss of direction

 

STATE POLLS | Bersatu supreme council member Muhammad Faiz Na'aman has resigned as a member of the party.

In a lengthy statement, he said he decided to quit due to irreconcilable differences.

Faiz (above) said Bersatu was envisioned as a "moderate nationalist" party, that would differentiate itself from the "Malay ultras", "ultra-liberals" or "religious extremists",

"I am disappointed that Bersatu is not stressing the basic ideology of our struggle among leaders and grassroots.

"Some who recently joined Bersatu have brought with them the mentality from their previous political platforms," he said.

Faiz, who was appointed as a Bersatu supreme council member in 2020, claimed that the party was not being respected by the "largest" Perikatan Nasional component party.

"They (PAS) know that Bersatu is getting weaker because of internal politicking and we are taking in people who are not respected by society," he said, without elaborating.

According to Faiz, the party leadership had allowed a certain "cartel" to choose Bersatu's candidates for Selangor, causing unhappiness among at least nine of Bersatu's 22 divisions.

"This caused the incident where the PN flag was burnt in protest because the candidates were selected without factoring in whether they will be accepted by the grassroots," he said.

Since last week, Faiz has been publicly criticising the party's choice of candidates for Selangor, which included several party leaders who were trounced during the parliamentary elections last year.