KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 9 — PKR has blamed factionalism for the focus on the unusual number of new members in its Julau branch, insisting today that the party’s recruitment drives have been done in an open and transparent manner.

It said there was no official complaint made over the Julau branch, while a report was lodged against the registration of 1,000 new members in the Batu branch—but media had chosen to only highlight the former.

“As a conclusion, the excessive attention towards the case involving Julau branch was the result of extreme sentiments to defend one’s own faction.

“When all the management process involving the party elections and membership drive have been done transparently, openly, and responsibly,” party secretary-general Datuk Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said in a statement.

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Saifuddin said the party’s political bureau has received complaints that the Batu new members were registered without submitting any application form.

In addition, it also received complaints about membership drives in Selangor, where People’s Volunteer Corps (RELA) members and those who received aid from the state government were registered as new members without their knowledge.

He also said that so far, there has been 22,673 applications as new members as at midnight, June 26, 2018 — and the Julau branch had submitted its applications on 2pm, June 12.

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The Julau branch is under investigation after its roll went from 603 members to over 13,000 — a whopping increase of over 2,000 per cent.

Last month, Sarawak PKR information chief Vernon Kedit made a statutory declaration that the new Julau PKR recruits were “not genuine, but made by stealing personal data and information without the knowledge of the owners and, therefore, not proper”.

Incumbent Julau branch chairman Semana Sawang claimed earlier today that even deceased people were found registered as new PKR members.

The crisis that struck the Julau PKR division became the key controversy in the ongoing party election after several reports were lodged with the police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) over the alleged forgeries and money politics.

The MACC has since raided the office of Julau MP Larry Sng Wei Shien to facilitate investigations for allegedly buying thousands of votes.