Lunas assemblyman Radzhi quits as PKR member

KUALA LUMPUR: Lunas state assemblyman Mohd Radzhi Salleh announced Sunday he had quit Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) to become an independent member of the Kedah legislative assembly.
Mohd Radzhi, who is chairman of the Tourism, Community Development and Human Resources Committee, said he would retain the post of state executive councillor as the appointment was made by the Sultan of Kedah.
His decision to leave PKR was due to a loss of confidence in the PKR leadership and in keeping with the dissolution of the PKR Padang Serai division announced by division acting chief Jamaludin Abu Hassan who himself had quit the party, he told a news conference also attended by Jamaludin.
"As an elected representative, I sympathise with the decision to dissolve the division because the divisional members were responsible for my victory in the last general election," he said.
In the general election last year, Mohd Radzhi beat the Barisan Nasional candidate, S. Ananthan, by a majority of 10,323 votes to win the seat.
Mohd Radzhi said 14 divisional committee members and 200 ordinary members supported the dissolution of the division.
"I am no longer prepared to be in PKR because I feel responsible, along with the members and, as a divisional committee member, I am leaving the party in support of the decision," he said.
Mohd Radzhi said he would continue to serve as an independent state assemblyman and support the federal government led by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
The Kedah government is held by a loose coalition of PAS, PKR and DAP, calling themselves Pakatan Rakyat.
Replying to a question, Mohd Radzhi denied that he has been bought over by any political party.
In BUKIT MERTAJAM, Kedah Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azizan Abdul Razak, who is in Penang to help in the campaign for the PAS candidate in the Permatang Pasir state by-election, said the status of Mohd Radzhi as a state executive councillor would be determined by the PKR leadership, Bernama reported.
He said that as the mentri besar he had the right to replace any state executive councillor who no longer represented any party in the Pakatan coalition after getting the consent of the Sultan.
"I am waiting for the official letter from PKR on Radzhi's position and will replace him if PKR advises so. As of now, I have only heard news that Radzhi has left PKR," he told Bernama.
Azizan, who is also Kedah PAS commissioner, said he did not want to comment on Mohd Radzhi's departure from PKR as it was the party's domestic affair.
With Mohd Radzhi quitting PKR, the Kedah assembly now has four PKR assemblymen, two of whom are also state executive councillors.
PAS has 16 assemblymen in the house, seven of whom are state executive councillors, while the DAP has one assemblyman.
The Barisan Nasional has 14 assemblymen in Kedah.
In PADANG SERAI, former Padang Serai PKR chief Hamid Osman, 68, said he had expected the division to dissolve.
Hamid, who had headed the division since 2004 and quit the party in April, said he and more than 500 others were considering joining Umno.
Another former leader of Padang Serai PKR, Sarji Singh, 45, said he was not surprised about the departure of Mohd Radzhi from PKR as he himself and more than 1,000 PKR members had left the party to join the MIC last year.
Meanwhile, Padang Serai Umno deputy chief Abdul Halim Hasan said Umno was prepared to accept former PKR members for the sake of Malay unity and development.
Padang Serai Gerakan chairman Tang Liang Hiang said the party's doors were always open for former PKR members and supporters.
Meanwhile, Sira Habibu of The Star reports that the Kedah Government will sack the Lunas assemblyman executive council post if he did not step down voluntarily.
Kedah Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azizan Abdul Razak said Radzhi could not hold on to executive council post if he was no longer a member of PKR.
“On what capacity does he still want to hold on to the executive council post if he is no longer part of the Pakatan Rakyat team?’’ Azizan said.
Azizan said however, the State Government will only proceed with such action upon the advice of PKR leadership.
Azizan said Radzhi had not sent any official notice to declare that he was quitting PKR and that he would serve as an independent assemblyman.
“I will wait for confirmation from PKR that Radzhi is no longer a member of the party before proceeding with the next course of action.
“Radzhi should step down as executive council member if he has really quit PKR.
“If he does not step down, we will sack him,’’ he reiterated.
Azizan also said Radzhi’s announcement to quit did not come as a shock.
“We have heard since last year that he was planning to quit.
“We have been anticipating this announcement for a long time.
“Although he had said it out in open during a press conference, we will not make our decision based on media reports,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, Kedah Gerakan Youth chief Tan Keng Liang urged the Kedah government to appoint sole DAP assemblyman Lee Guan Aik as state executive councillor.
He said that now that there was a likely “vacancy”, PAS-led Pakatan Rakyat government should look into allotting the seat to DAP.
“In view of the current situation, it would be timely for Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azizan Abdul Razak to offer the exco seat to DAP,’’ said Tan.
Tan said DAP could effectively highlight grievances and help resolve issues during exco meetings, if given the post.

Muhyiddin Says More PKR Assemblymen May Quit Party

tunku : what is happening with anwar's numbers.....it should have been increasing but things are going the other way round,the numbers are decreasing.well the lunas assemblyman did the right thing to quit pkr and stays as independent.pkr is only meant for anwar and not for the nation.when kedah pakatan's government is about to celebrate of a state seat vacancy in kedah they got this blow from their own man.GOD BLESS US ALL.