Tapah PKR chief to go independent

Ridzuan Bani says he won’t quit the party but will contest against its candidate. 

G Vinod, FMT

Tapah PKR chief Ridzuan Bani announced today that he would contest as an independent candidate for the Tapah parliamentary seat.

He added, however, that he would not relinquish his PKR membership.

“At first I did not want to contest because this seat is reserved for an Indian candidate, but the central leadership has chosen a dubious candidate for Tapah,” he said, referring to K Vasanthakumar, a former leader of Hindraf.

PKR announced Vasanthakumar’s candidacy yesterday. He will fight MIC vice president M Saravanan, who beat PKR’s Tan Seng Toh by more than 3,000 votes in the 2008 election.

Ridzuan said he had no choice but to offer himself as a candidate to “save Tapah” from Vasanthakumar, whom he described as “a man of bad character”.

“He has swindled money from Hindraf, an act that cannot be accepted by any Malaysian,” he alleged.

Asked how many PKR branches supported his move, Ridzuan said: “I don’t care about branches or divisions. This is about offering the 5,000 voters in Tapah a candidate with good values.”

The Tapah electorate is made up of 47% Malays, 32% Chinese, 20% Indians and 1% Orang Asli.