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PETALING JAYA: A member of the PKR central leadership, Abdullah Sani Abdul Hamid, has questioned why Kuala Langat MP Xavier Jayakumar resigned from the party to support the Perikatan Nasional government of Muhyiddin Yassin.
Sani, who is a Kapar deputy, said in a Twitter post that “if Xavier did nothing wrong, he could have challenged the allegations. But what does giving up mean to him? “
His tweet was shared by PKR President Anwar Ibrahim, who was among the 246 who retweeted the post.
Yet another senior PKR member, Sivarasa Rasiah, defended Xavier, saying on Facebook: “It is obvious to everyone that Xavier would not have done this if it weren’t for the selective investigation launched by the MACC to intimidate him.
He said that several of Xavier’s associates and former ministry officials had been arrested and sent to remand by the MACC.
Sivarasa urged the PN government to stop abuse by enforcement agencies through targeted investigations to intimidate opposition MPs and pressure them to switch sides.
Xavier, one of the founding members of the party, resigned today as vice president of the PKR and said he would be an independent deputy who supports the government.
He said he had been “extremely frustrated” by the events of the past year. He did not say what these events were, but did refer to the pressure for an early general election.
However, Sani said in his tweet that “the issue of disappointment with the party is just political rhetoric.”
Earlier today, the general secretary of the PKR, Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, had said that a “chief minister” had told Xavier to support the PN or he would face dire consequences. Saifuddin said Xavier had told the party leadership that he had been “targeted” by a plethora of investigations.
Another party comrade, Tian Chua, paid tribute to Xavier’s services to the party, saying it would be unfair to consider him a traitor.
Xavier and Tian Chua were among those who supported former Vice President Azmin Ali in the party’s elections in 2018. Azmin left in March last year and is now with PPBM and is a senior minister in the Perikatan Nasional government.
Last month, two other MPs, Larry Sng and Steven Choong, left PKR and declared their support for Muhyiddin.
