KUALA LUMPUR: Former PKR vice-president Tian Chua, who was sacked from the party last week, is hoping party president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will forgive him for breaching party rules and readmit him into the party.
His party membership was terminated because he stood against a PKR candidate in last November's 15th General Election (GE15) as an independent. He has been given 14 days to appeal the decision.
However, speaking to Free Malaysia Today, the former Batu member of Parliament, a staunch Anwar supporter, admitted he had "no defence".
"I contested as an independent, and this violated the party's disciplinary rules. It's up to the president whether he will forgive me or not.
"Anwar could use his power as president to forgive me. The issue is clemency, not punishment," said Chua.
Chua clashed with PKR's P. Prabakaran and eight other candidates for the Batu seat, losing his deposit after obtaining only 4,603 votes.
On January 7, PKR's central leadership council sacked him and four other members for contesting in GE15 and the Sarawak state election in 2021 without the party's consent.
The other four are Puah Chee Haur (Parit Buntar branch), Ahmad Tarmizi Ghazali (Gopeng), M Mohganan (Taiping) and Nur Khairunisa Abdullah (Sadong Jaya).
Chua said he had yet to receive an official letter on his membership status and that he would hold off on his official appeal until then.
PKR disciplinary committee chairman Datin Paduka Tan Yee Kew told FMT "the letter should be on its way".
Tan said the letter was delayed because she had to wait for PKR secretary-general Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail to sign it.