PKR to expel Rafizi if he doesn’t stop revealing party disputes
KUALA LUMPUR: PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli has been slapped with a “stern warning” and risks being expelled from the party if he continues revealing its infighting, Chinese daily Sin Chew Daily reported yesterday.
Quoting a party source, the vernacular paper said Rafizi was issued with a verbal warning following his latest statement, which tarnished the party’s name, following a dispute between camps purportedly at odds over forming a political pact with Pas in the 14th General Election (GE14).
The source said the warning was issued on the advice of jailed PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to the party’s political bureau in meting out the type of disciplinary action.
“Based on Anwar’s advice, the party will issue a verbal warning only to Rafizi. If he continues to be stubborn (in exposing internal party matters), he may be expelled from the party.”
In a recent statement, Rafizi, who is known to oppose political pacts with Pas, had named PKR deputy president Datuk Seri Azmin Ali, vice-presidents Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin, Tian Chua, Dr Xavier Jayakumar and Dr Shaharuddin Badaruddin as the ones involved in talks with the Islamic party.
Rafizi had, among others, revealed that a group in the party had petitioned to have him removed as secretary-general back then.
He also said there were endless clashes in political bureau meetings and aired his ongoing disputes with Azmin.
The source said the party would continue talking with Pas as instructed by Anwar to avoid three-cornered fights in GE14.
While the Pakatan presidential council had decided that there would be no cooperation with Pas, it did not object to PKR having unofficial talks with the latter.
“PKR is not only facing challenges from Pas, but other east coast parties as well. We will continue talking with Pas, Parti Sosialis Malaysia and others parties in the region to reach a ‘oneon-one’ formula (straight fights against Barisan Nasional).
“With that being said, PKR is only negotiating with Pas for a one-on-one formula. It is not about a political pact since we did not collectively draw out alliance manifestos or policies.”
On Azmin’s claim that he was appointed to hold talks with Pas, the source said the task was assigned to the Selangor menteri besar by Anwar, who told the former to look into seat allocation.
PKR secretary-general Datuk Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, in a recent report, had claimed that there was no such appointment.
“The appointment was supported by majority of the political bureau members. Those against talks, such as Rafizi and Selayang member of parliament William Leong (who had quit the bureau), are not from Azmin’s camp.
“And Rafizi, who is a member of the bureau, has not attended meetings for a year now,” said the source.