KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 26 — PKR vice-president Chua Tian Chang said the party's disciplinary board should withdraw its decision to sack former central leadership council (CLC) member Zakaria Abdul Hamid and member Ismail Dul Hadi.
The politician commonly called Tian Chua said the decision was made without due process and went against the party’s spirit of reform.
“As a party national leader, I have a responsibility to uphold democratic processes and fairness which are the basic tenets of the party,” Tian Chua said in a statement.
“As a party founded upon the movement for reform and justice, it is rather unfortunate that such heavy-handed action has been employed.
“Many of us threw ourselves into this struggle because of our outrage triggered by an unfair dismissal in 1998 that was deemed cruel and oppressive.”
Saying PKR was founded on justice, he stressed that added care was needed in the decision to expel a veteran activist and member of the CLC member.
“It is unacceptable that anyone could be sacked without prior notice and without being given an opportunity to defend themselves.
“I note some quarters have attempted to justify such unjust actions by blaming the absence of several key CLC members. The fact is that the alleged incident of 'wrong-doing' happened nearly a year ago, so why is there the sudden need to rush through this drastic action?” he said.
He also questioned why the board could not allow for a proper duration for thorough discussion and investigation, since its actions could be seen as hasty and partial.
“I believe that party president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim would have adopted a level-headed and conciliatory approach to resolve tussles within the party. My experience in previous meetings is that Datuk Seri Anwar would normally prefer a less harsh action such as the suspension of membership or a request for show cause, rather than immediate outright sacking,” he said.
He also called upon all party members to refrain from making accusations based on assumption instead of fact, for the sake of preserving PKR's integrity and good image.
Zakaria, the former political secretary to Works Minister Baru Bian, and Ismail were sacked from the party over alleged corruption.
Following this Zakaria expressed shock at the decision, and claimed he was neither informed nor given the chance to explain himself.
The decision was also criticised by PKR vice-president Zuraida Kamaruddin and Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Abdul Karim.
