FORMER Ampang MP Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin had applied to rejoin Bersatu, a party she had resigned from last year, said a Bersatu leader.
However, Zuraida’s application was rejected on grounds that the former plantation industries and commodities minister had previously refused to step down from her ministerial post to which she had been appointed on a Bersatu quota after her resignation from the party.
“The decision to reject her application was unanimous,” Bersatu Youth chief Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal told FMT.
On May 26 last year, Zuraida quit the Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin-led Bersatu to join Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM). She had joined Bersatu following her sacking from PKR in the wake of the Sheraton Move in 2020.
In June 2022, Zuraida was appointed PBM’s president-designate, with PBM president Datuk Larry Sng saying that the party’s political bureau as well as its supreme council had agreed to the decision.
Following her failure to respond to a show-cause letter issued by Sng, Zuraida, alongside 10 other party supreme council members, were stripped of their membership by PBM on Dec 27 last year.
In the 15th general election (GE15), Zuraida failed in her bid to defend her Ampang parliamentary seat and lost her deposit in the process.
Running against eight others under PBM banner, Zuraida finished fourth with just 4,589 votes, trailing Barisan Nasional, Perikatan Nasional and the victorious Pakatan Harapan, whose candidate Rodziah Ismail won by 29,681 votes.
She is currently with Datuk Seri Annuar Musa-led NGO Muafakat Nasional, and was made its deputy president in January. – April 5, 2023
Main pic credit: The Edge Markets
