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| AsiaViews, Edition: 48/VI/March2010 |
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| Don’t get personal, Anwar’s aide tells PKR |
KUALA LUMPUR, March 4 – Balik Pulau MP Yusmadi Yusoff has told his party not to practise the “primitive politics” of personal attacks against former PKR members.
Yusmadi, who is an aide to PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, has also denied speculation he will quit the party.
Three MPs have already left.
“I dislike the primitive politics of punishment. In fact most of those who have jumped have their contribution but when you say that you disagree with the current party is probably because you are exhausted. At a personal level, I will never condemn the little efforts. I disagree with any form of attacks at a personal level or what we call punch below the belt,” he told reporters at Hotel Armada last night.
PKR deputy president Senator Dr Syed Husin Ali has been on a campaign to discredit party defectors, calling ex-Penang deputy Chief Minister Mohd Fairus Khairuddin a liability and claiming former PKR secretary-general Datuk Salehuddin Hashim only became unhappy when not named to head the Selangor investment arm, Perangsang Group.
Yusmadi admitted that the leadership may have mishandled certain problems and issues within the party.
“For me that mean that there are issues that need to be further acknowledged, understood, appreciated and act upon by the party leadership because I believe the reason why the party has its position today is due to the contribution from everybody.
“For all of my friends that have jumped, I would to say thank very much and now is the time for me to take the baton. Probably you are exhausted and I pray that you will change your decision,” he said.
Yusmadi also reiterated that he never planned to leave the party but was a “victim of circumstances.”
“I have become a victim of circumstances. While everything was going hoohaa then all of a sudden I was sick until now. As far as I am concerned there is no iota of evidence in public domain that reflect even the slightest assumption that I would jump. The assumption is my commitment. For example when I was sick, I went to court and still attend some of PKR’s function,” he said.
Speculation about Yusmadi’s position was apparently due to his close ties with former Penang PKR chief Datuk Seri Zahrain Hashim who quit the party last Feb 12. Apart from the Bayan Baru MP, Nibong Tebal MP Tan Tee Beng and Bagan Serai MP Mohsin Fadzli Samsuri have also left PKR.
“To be honest, I did not know Zahrain even after I was elected. He was a friend of Anwar Ibrahim. The relationship between me and him was only political but for me, no relationship is pure political. I go a step further and become a family friend to Datuk Zahrain. If that is the basis that I may jump then that is wrong just because you are close to whoever. That alone does not justify me, or whoever, that I am going to jump,” he said. |
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| By Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani |
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| The Malaysian Insider, 04 March 2010 |
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