Deserters were easily bought, says Syed Husin

Written by Chan Kok Leong, The Edge 

Most of the members of Parliament who have quit Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) have financial and personal issues and hence are “easily bought over”.

“These so-called leaders were either disappointed, had personal and financial problems or were angry with the party for not giving them what they want,” said PKR Deputy President Dr Syed Husin Ali before opening the PKR Wanita and Youth Congress on Thursday, May 27.

“They could not get what they want from the party or the states governed by Pakatan Rakyat and they also cannot perform their duties properly as people’s representatives or work with the grassroot divisions. Hence, they were easily bought,” he explained.

The veteran politician also played down the number of lawmakers who had left the party.

“It’s not as many as earlier speculated. Although this is unsettling, we must embrace this as a positive development as it is a form of party cleansing,” said the senator.

“Their loss is not as greatly exaggerated by the media. On average, PKR receives some 5,000 membership applications each month. We recently processed 50,000 applications over a period of three months,” he added.

But he warned that the party should use this opportunity to study the reasons why they had quit and work to rectify any weaknesses.

Since the last general election in 2008, PKR has lost five MPs and five state assemblymen.

The spate of resignations was more critical this year when Datuk Seri Zahrain Mohd Hashim, Tan Tee Beng, Wee Choo Keong and Mohsin Fadzli Samsuri quit the party one after the other. Zulkifli Nordin was sacked by the party over disciplinary issues.

According to Syed Husin, their party is not the only political party to have been afflicted by “defections”.

“When PAS lost Asri Muda, Othman Abdullah and Nakhaie Ahmad, Umno said the party would disintegrate but PAS is now stronger than ever.

“It is the same with DAP. MCA sounded the victory bells when DAP Secretary-General Goh Hock Guan, deputy chairman Richard Ho and then Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye quit the party.

“But now, it is MCA which is in shambles while DAP is the stronger party,” he explained.

Syed Husin said he was confident PKR can also emerge stronger like DAP and PAS following the defections.

He urged the Wanita and Youth delegates to conduct more training programmes to train more able leaders so that the party can emerge tougher.

PKR Wanita is lead by Ampang MP Zuraida Kamaruddin while the Youth wing is helmed by Shamsul Iskandar.

PKR is holding its four-day Congress in Kota Bharu. Wanita and Youth delegates will begin their congress Friday while the main body will have its annual meeting starting from Saturday.

The party is also scheduled to hold party elections at the end of the year.