PARTI Bangsa Malaysia (PBM) president Datuk Larry Sng Wei Shien has suspended a strongman of Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin over her supposed appointment as party president, a move which has seen a power tussle between both leaders for weeks now ahead of the Nov 19 federal polls.
The incumbent Julau MP added that he is still the legitimately-recognised PBM president to date, as per the records of the Registrar of Societies (RoS), a copy of which he posted on his Facebook page today.
On the other hand, Zuraida, who was announced by Sng as PBM president-designate in June, does not appear in the records of the party’s top brass.
Zuraida, who was formerly with PKR and then with Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM), applied to join PBM in May. The incumbent Ampang MP was accepted into the party’s fold shortly after.
The caretaker plantation industries and commodities minister’s powerful president-designate appointment placed her as Sng’s number two, allowing her to take charge of the party in his absence.
Earlier this month, party secretary-general Nor Hizwan Ahmad, a former political secretary of Zuraida, announced that the PBM Supreme Council had agreed to elect his former boss as PBM president, in line with her gradual transition to the post (as Sng himself declared before).
This after the meeting adopted several motions passed at the party’s annual general meeting (AGM) on Oct 1, including one on Zuraida taking over as party president.
In a statement today, however, Sng said the Supreme Council meeting held on Oct 7, 2022, “was not as per instructed by me” as PBM president.
“The meeting was conducted at the same time as the Budget speech by the prime minister, and I was only informed of the outcome after it was held,” he said.
“Position was never vacant”
He added: “The decision of the meeting was said to have appointed Zuraida as president, when, in fact, the position was never vacant.”
Accordingly, Sng suspended both Hizwan and PBM information chief Zakaria Abdul Hamid with immediate effect, as per clause 60 (iii) of PBM’s constitution.
The clause in question allows for the party president to temporarily suspend a party member while waiting for action from its disciplinary committee.
“I strongly despise and condemn such political manoeuvring which has undermined the trust of my leadership and has caused confusion to party members and the general public at large,” said Sng.
“As such, their positions will be suspended until a disciplinary committee is set up to look into the matter after the election.”
In the meantime, PBM deputy secretary-general Jenny Chiew will assume the function of the secretary-general, he said.
Sng, who is also from PKR like Zuraida, left the party last year and rejoined his previous Sarawak Workers Party, eventually rebranding it to PBM in October 2021. He was appointed as party president in January.
Zuraida, Hizwan and Zakaria joined PBM soon after, with Hizwan bringing his 50,000-odd Penggerak Komuniti Negara non-Governmental organisation (NGO) members into the party as well.
Zakaria, a former PKR Bera division chairman, is believed to be an ally of Zuraida; when he was sacked from PKR back in 2019 on grounds of corruption, Zuraida slammed the party leadership for doing so as he had yet to be found guilty in court. – Oct 27, 2022
Main photo credit: Bernama
