KUALA LUMPUR: PKR Women’s chief Haniza Talha has lashed out at party leaders who had claimed its vice-president Zuraida Kamaruddin did not have grassroots support and describing the detractors as “arrogant”.
Haniza pointed out that Zuraida’s detractors - Datuk Johari Abdul, Fuziah Salleh, Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh and Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak - were the ones who without strong grassroots support based on the party poll results back in 2018.
She said despite their defeat, Johari was appointed as the party’s chief in Kedah, Fuziah as its chief in Pahang, Syed Ibrahim as its chief in Johor and Farhash as its chief in Perak.
“If the results of the 2018 party elections were made the yardstick, Johari who is currently the Kedah chief had lost in the three-corner contest in Sungai Petani branch and emerged in sixth place for the vice-president’s post,” she said in a statement.
She said Johari failed to win the vice-president’s post after securing only 9.9 per cent of votes of the 500,000 votes received in total for the posts.
“Despite this, Johari was made the Kedah PKR chief. And now, he is arrogant and makes a lot of noise even though he was merely appointed to his current post.”
Haniza pointed out that Farhash only secured 266 votes at the Kuala Kangsar division polls and lost badly when he contested for a spot in the party’s central leadership council.
Meanwhile, she said Fuziah did not contest at the divisional level and failed to win the Wanita chief post, while Syed Ibrahim lost at the divisional level when he secured 271 votes and failed to win a seat at the council.
“They should realise this and refrain from interfering in party matters,” Haniza said.
She said Zuraida had already been issued a show-cause letter, reported to be over controversial remarks she made at an event after the party national congress in Melaka.
Earlier, Johari, along with Farhash, Fuziah and Syed Ibrahim dismissed the notion that Zuraida enjoyed a lot of support, claiming that 22 out of 24 divisions in Perak wanted her to be sacked.