UPDATED
By Adib Zalkapli
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 29 — Port Klang assemblyman Badrul Hisham Abdullah has quit PKR, citing a loss of faith in the party leadership and unhappiness over financial allocations, in a move that could spark a crisis in the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) state government.
Badrul Hisham said he would now be a Barisan Nasional (BN) friendly independent lawmaker.
He did not say if he would eventually be joining Umno or any other political party, but he asserted that he would not relinquish his state seat.
His announcement comes just hours after Selangor Mentri besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim had said he wanted the lawmaker to resign as assemblyman for non-performance.
Badrul Hisham won the Port Klang state seat in Election 2008 with 12,397 votes against Barisan Nasional’s Roselinda Abdul Jamil who got 7,990 votes and independent Nazir Mansor with 580.
Early this month, Khalid had said he would decide on Badrul Hisham’s status by the end of October.
Speculation had been rife for months now that Badrul Hisham planned to defect to Umno and controversy has plagued the first-term lawmaker since the general election last year due to complaints by voters in his constituency that he was never around and could not be contacted.
“I was elected by the people and not by the Mentri Besar of Selangor,” said Badrul in a three page statement in response to Khalid’s call for him to quit.
“I am no longer a PKR member but will remain an independent representative supporting Barisan Nasional,” he added.
Khalid had also alleged that Badrul Hisham has been incommunicado and did not respond to the show cause letter sent by the state government.
“For your information I have given my explanation through a letter dated Aug 28 2009,” said Badrul.
He claimed that he had been sidelined by the state government which made it difficult for him to perform his duties.
“The refusal of the PKR-led Selangor government to assist me in coordinating financial allocation for my constituency made me feel marginalised,” said Badrul Hisham.
Badrul Hisham also cited Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s actions in causing his sodomy trial to be postponed several times as another reason for his loss of confidence in PKR.
“I am having doubts on the leadership of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for not having the courage to face trial for the Saiful Bukhari sodomy case,” said Badrul Hisham.
“He has been avoiding from giving explanation to party members,” he added.
“I take seriously the allegation of moral misconduct against Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim,” he said.
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