Pakatan insiders lament toothless disciplinary panel
By Syed Jaymal Zahiid, The Malaysian Insider
The Pakatan Rakyat (PR) disciplinary committee does not have any power to impose penalties on errant members, rendering it toothless when it hears the case against three rogue leaders this month.
The Malaysian Insider understands that the formation of the committee had been proposed a while ago with the understanding that the panel will merely be an “advisory” board with no power to punish.
Errant members brought before the committee for violating party line will be sent back to their respective parties for further disciplinary action.
PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced yesterday that the pact’s disciplinary committee will be activated to address immediate issues affecting the coalition.
The move was announced after a PR presidential council meeting and was made amid various internal bickering among its leaders but leaders within the party.
But leaders within the pact itself have come out to question the rationale behind the committee given it is powerless and many doubt if PR’s top leadership is serious about its reform pledge when it lacks will to punish leaders
“So if it’s merely advisory, what is the point? What is the point of announcing it when there is no point of setting up the committee because PR has not even been formalised,” a top PKR leader told The Malaysian Insider.
PKR and PAS have both been criticised when they recently allowed errant leaders within their own party escape with meagre reprimands.
