Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM) has sacked its president-designate Zuraida Kamaruddin and 10 others, amid a leadership struggle with incumbent president Larry Sng.
Meanwhile, PBM deputy president Haniza Talha and Women’s chief Daroyah Alwi were stripped of their positions but remain members of the party.
The sackings came after Zuraida and her allies did not respond to a show-cause letter issued to them on Dec 19.
A statement from PBM’s information unit said the party’s disciplinary committee hence decided to terminate their membership with immediate effect.
When contacted, Sng said Haniza and Daroyah were spared the axe as the party did not want to encourage party hopping.
“They are elected (Selangor) assemblypersons. With the anti-hopping law passed in Selangor, we would not want to be seen encouraging them to jump to another party,” he told Malaysiakini.
Selangor’s anti-hopping law follows the federal version, in which elected representative loses their seats if they resign or change parties.
However, they would be spared from punishment if they are instead sacked from a party.
Meanwhile, among those given the boot were PBM secretary-general Nor Hizwan Ahmad, information chief Zakaria Abdul Hamid, its three vice presidents, and party youth chief Na’im Brundage.
During PBM’s AGM in early October, it was decided that Zuraida – who was the party’s “president-designate” – to officially take over the party leadership from Sng.
The move was then approved by a supreme council meeting.
However, Sng threw a wrench in the plan, saying he was still the party president as per the Registrar of Societies.
He then declared the supreme council meeting which approved Zuraida’s transition as invalid and suspended her and 12 others.
They had put the tussle on hold for the 15th general election – a contest which saw Sng as the only PBM candidate to win a seat while Zuraida and party deputy president Haniza Talha – who is allied to the latter – lose their deposits.
The tussle resurfaced over the weekend with Zuraida and Haniza accusing Sng of abusing his authority. – Malaysiakini