KUALA LUMPUR: The infighting within PKR has taken another twist with its vice-president Rafizi Ramli now claiming that there are party members who leaked false information to the media whenever there are internal disputes.
In shooting down reports on him being reprimanded for allegedly publicising the party’s infighting, he criticised his colleagues in the party for giving the wrong impression to the media by passing of their views as the party’s general sentiment.
He said he was not surprised as such incident was commonplace whenever there were glaring disagreements within the party’s leadership.
“There are several PKR leaders who like to give the wrong impression to the media by hiding under the pretext of being a ‘source within the party’ to ensure that their view is taken as the majority view although it contradicts the actual discussion and decision by the political bureau or the leadership council,” he said.
Rafizi said as long as these two or three political bureau members remained undisciplined and feed misinformation to the media and party members, the situation in PKR would continue to become disarrayed.
“For this reason, after the Sarawak state election and the Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar by-elections, I had decided that it is more beneficial to spend my time and energy being engrossed in PKR and Pakatan Harapan’s campaign trails for marginal seats, rather than to rectify the misinformation spread by these political bureau members,” said the Pandan Member of Parliament
Rafizi said that with the impending 14th general election (GE14), the party should be focused on preparations to face the polls instead of on any political news that would not aid the party defeat Umno and BN.
On Friday, Chinese daily Sin Chew Daily reported that Rafizi had been slapped with a “stern warning” and risks expulsion from the party if he continues to reveal its infighting.
Quoting a party source, the vernacular paper said Rafizi was issued a verbal warning following his latest statement over purported disputes over the formation of a political pact with Pas for the upcoming GE14.
The move, a party source reportedly said, was based on an advice from jailed PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to the party’s political bureau.