KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 9 — Datuk Seri Azmin Ali came close to leaving PKR at the height of his strained relationship with party president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, former deputy president Syed Husin Ali claimed.
Syed Husin told Malaysiakini in an interview that the incumbent PKR deputy president’s camp also considered forming a new party as one of three exit strategies following a sex allegation last June that is still under investigation.
“The first one was to join Bersatu, but there are some non-Malays in their group and they would have no place in Bersatu,” Syed Husin was quoted as saying.
“They then tried Gerakan and there was a move to check out Gerakan. But Gerakan is too close to BN and some of them are not happy with this. I have personal knowledge as to who was negotiating. And I have personal knowledge of the Gerakan leadership wanting to meet Anwar to discuss the matter, but Anwar refused to meet them.
“And the third thing they tried to do was to form a new party. At one stage, Azmin was serious about it.
“Many of us were saying if they formed a new party, that will be the end, the death for his gang,” Syed Husin told the news website.
However, PKR vice-president Zuraida Kamaruddin who is close to Azmin has denied this allegation, claiming instead to want to remain in the party.
Other PKR leaders seen as aligned to Azmin, PKR women’s wing chief Haniza Talha and Bukit Melawati assemblyman Juwairiya Zulkifli, have denied there were discussions about forming a new party.
Syed Husin also claimed Azmin and his camp have been skipping the weekly PKR political bureau meetings and monthly central leadership council meetings in a bid to instigate the party to expel them so they can be “heroes”.
However, Syed Husin, who is also a member of the PKR political bureau and deputy chairman of the party’s advisory board, claimed Azmin, who is economic affairs minister, and the latter’s camp are in the minority.
“Some 93 per cent of PKR divisions and 133 out of the 140 PKR leaders who attended the retreat in Port Dickson supported Anwar.
“In other words, Azmin and Zuraida belong to the small minority now.”
