Vernon (left) is seen entering the MACC Sarawak office in Kuching. Also seen are See (second left), Nicholas (second right) and other state PKR leaders. — Photo by Nick Fletcher
KUCHING: Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Sarawak has lodged a complaint against PKR Julau to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on the issue of dubious branch membership status.
The bone of contention is that PKR Julau managed to increase its membership in one day from 603 to more than 13,000 in June, and this compelled the PKR Sarawak leadership to lodge an MACC report for it to find out if there was any illegality or irregularity in the manner the surge of membership was conducted.
In addition to the increase of members, there are allegations of those who were registered to become members without their knowledge and consent.
PKR Sarawak secretary Nicholas Bawin accompanied its information chief Vernon Kedit to MACC Sarawak office here yesterday morning.
Sarawak PKR vice chairman See Chee How who is also Batu Lintang assemblyman and leaders of several branches also came along.
Nicholas said the complaint to MACC was desired by them following the failure of PKR secretary general Datuk Saifuddin Nasution Ismail’s announcement that all objections towards PKR membership status in the run-up to party central leadership election was closed.
However, Nicholas claimed that his and the objection of PKR Julau branch candidate Semana Sawang were submitted within the time frame.
“We have no choice but to bring this matter up to the MACC because the illegal and irregularities of the rules that we raised through the party channels are ignored,” he told reporters at the MACC headquarters.
Vernon said it wanted the MACC to carry out a thorough investigation into the matter.
“We want the MACC to determine whether there is any abuse of power by certain party leaders by concealing unlawful matters and deviating from party rules as mentioned in our statutory declaration as our party’s image and credibility is now under public scrutiny,” he said.
PKR Sarawak has found out that more than 1,000 new members have denied applying as PKR members and most of them still do not carry membership serial number even though their names appeared in the PKR membership list. Also, severalof these 1,000 ‘members’ claimed that their names appeared more than once in the membership list.
Saifuddin has been reported as saying that increasing the number of party membership was not his jurisdiction but that of party vice president candidate Dr Xavier Jayakumar.
Prior to their MACC visit, Nicholas through a press statement said they had wanted MACC to look into the allegation as they could not depend on PKR central secretariat to settle the problem.
With PKR Julau parliamentary service centre under the helmship of Julau MP Larry Sng lodging police report against Vernon and a media medium that posted his (Vernon) claim of the dubious PKR Julau membership status, Nicholas and Vernon are compelled to lodge their complaints to the MACC.
Larry, as far as Sarawak PKR leaders are concerned, is a ‘New Kid on the Block’. He managed to join PKR a few weeks after he won the Julau parliamentary seat in the May 9 general election on an independent ticket.
“Our party’s secretary general issued a statement which was reported in the press yesterday that all membership lists have been finalised and our complaints have exceeded the period of objections. We are left with no choice but to bring this matter to MACC as the irregularities and illegalities which we have been raising within party channels have been ignored,” said Nicholas.
Vernon said PKR Sarawak would like to request for the MACC to conduct a thorough and exhaustive investigation into these grave matters to ascertain if there were any abuse of power or misuse of power by certain party leaders in covering up the illegality and irregularities.
Nicholas and PKR Julau branch chairman candidate Semana Sawang have submitted to party central secretariat, their objections in the run-up to the party central leadership coming election within the time frame, but Vernon was said not to be in time to submit the statutory declaration.