Baru (seated third right), Chong (seated fourth right), Abang Abdul Halil (seated second left) and some of the PKR and Amanah candidates after the announcement of the candidates.
KUCHING: All state Pakatan Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) candidates for the 14th general election (GE14) have signed a legal document to prevent them from defecting to another party.
Its chairman Baru Bian said signing of the legal document had been the practice of PKR.
“All of us have signed the document before the party’s lawyer before the party issued us the authorisation letters,” he said after the announcement of PKR’s list of candidates here yesterday.
Elected PKR representatives will be fined RM10 million if they defect to another party.
PKR is said to have started the practice – signing the legal document – in the 2013 polls following the defection of several PKR leaders after the 2008 general election.
In the last general election, the representatives only committed verbally that they would pay RM1 million if they ‘jump ship’.
This time around, the legal document had been prepared for PKR candidates who are contesting in parliamentary and state seats, to sign before the authorisation letters are issued to them.
The move, among others, is meant to ensure that chosen candidates remain true to the party’s cause.
PKR will be contesting 15 seats in the upcoming general election.
State Pakatan Harapan and state DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen, state Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) secretary Abang Abdul Halil and Petra Jaya PKR chairman Baharuddin Mokhsen, who is also PKR Sarawak deputy election director were among those present at the function.