A group of PKR members will be seeking clarification from the Registrar of Societies (RoS) on Azmin Ali’s status as PKR’s deputy president tomorrow.
The group had attempted to do so at the Kuala Lumpur ROS branch today but were turned away because such matters are only handled by the ROS headquarters in Putrajaya.
When met at the Kuala Lumpur ROS branch, group representative P Jenapala said they were seeking clarity after confirmation that Azmin has been absent without leave from the party’s central leadership council (MPP) meetings.
“The secretary-general said Azmin has been absent since 2018, without leave. (Clause 21.16 of) the party constitution said three consecutive absences without leave was considered a resignation.
“However, the deputy secretary-general said Clause 21.16 has never been applied and that Azmin had communicated his reasons for absence to the party president.
“Therefore, we seek clarity over this confusion,” said Jenapala, who is a former PKR deputy secretary-general.
Jenapala is now an ordinary member of the Ipoh Barat PKR division. He was accompanied by three other party members.
He stressed that their purpose of making the enquiry through the ROS was only to seek clarity and not to cause problems for the party.
Meanwhile, a staffer at the PKR headquarters confirmed that the schedule for MPP meetings for the entire year has been laid out.
“After the last party election, the secretary-general’s office had scheduled every MPP meeting on the last Sunday of the month.
“This allows for MPP members to lock in those dates and not make other commitments, except for exceptional cases,” said the staff, who requested anonymity.
As for the political bureau meetings, the staff said meetings are held fortnightly and members are given advance notice.
The political bureau is PKR’s executive body while the MPP is the party’s highest decision-making body.
Meanwhile, Capt Zulkefly Othman (rtd), who said he represented the group Gabungan Aktivis Reformis ‘98, called for party president Anwar Ibrahim to sack Azmin as deputy president and a member for failing to clear his name and the party’s image after he was implicated in a sex video.
He said Azmin has displayed confusing and inconsistent behaviour, such as not taking more steps to clear his name in the scandal if he was adamant that it was untrue.
“The time has come for Anwar to sack Azmin as a PKR member and as deputy president. As party president, Anwar has executive power to sack any member or PKR leader who has tarnished the image of the party,” Zulkefly said in a statement today.
“The PKR political bureau has three choices. It can issue Azmin a show-cause letter to explain why he should not be sacked and why he has not taken any action to lodge a police report against Haziq (Abdullah Abdul Aziz) or to sue Haziq to clear his name and the party’s image.
“Secondly, the bureau could force Azmin to make a police report and to sue Haziq, and to resign from his government post as economic affairs minister as well to facilitate a transparent investigation.
“Thirdly, PKR should sack him as member and as deputy president for tarnishing the party’s image.
“A two-faced person like him should not be in the leadership of PKR or any Pakatan Harapan (PH) component party.”
He said Anwar had tried hard to defend Azmin’s dignity over the scandal but Azmin still had not made efforts to clear his name by lodging a police report against Haziq or by filing a suit.
“It is very disappointing. If he is not in the wrong, he should clear his name and the party’s image, said Zulkefly, who was a candidate for the Jasin PKR chief post in party elections last November, but lost to Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin.
In his statement, Zulkefly listed other reasons why Azmin should be sacked.
He said there were complaints going around among PKR and other PH party members over Azmin’s latest move to issue a political statement using the official letterhead of the Economic Affairs Ministry.
The statement issued yesterday lauded PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang for supporting Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to stay on for a full term.
“Gabungan Reformis ‘98 received all sorts of negative comments and suggestions that PKR should take disciplinary action against Azmin.”
Zulkefly said the statement also showed that Azmin had disregarded the agreement by the PH parties before the 14th general election that Dr Mahathir would hand over the prime minister’s post to Anwar in two years’ time.
Zulkefly also slammed Azmin’s zero attendance record at party central leadership committee meetings since he was elected deputy president last year.
He said Azmin also picked and chose which meetings to attend, only going for PH presidential council meetings but avoiding PKR-related meetings.
“He is seen as failing the trust mandated to him as deputy president. He has consistently failed to attend meetings without any satisfactory reason.
“It shows his lack of respect towards the party president and also shows the disinterested attitude he has in leading the party.”