IPOH, 5 Feb 2009: The Pakatan Rakyat state government should not blame the Barisan Nasional (BN) for the shaky political situation in the state that led to the change in state government.
BN Backbenchers Club (BNBBC) chairperson Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing said this was because what transpired was due to the internal problems of the party which the Pakatan Rakyat leaders had failed to resolve in Perak.
“In such a situation, the Pakatan Rakyat must look back at their weaknesses to the extent that the state assemblyperson from PKR (Parti Keadilan Rakyat) and DAP left the party,” he told Bernama.
He said this when asked to comment on the political situation in Perak which has now changed hands from the Pakatan Rakyat to the BN following the move by four assemblypersons from the Pakatan Rakyat to leave their respective parties to support the BN.
Tiong also concurred with the view of the Batu Gajah Member of Parliament, Fong Po Kuan, as reported in a Chinese daily today that the state assemblyperson for Jelapang, Hee Yit Foong, had left the party due to internal problems with the state DAP leadership.
Fong said she too had faced a similar problem during the selection of candidates for the general election on 8 March which led to intervention from the DAP top leadership to resolve the problem.
Besides Hee, two assemblyperson from the PKR namely Capt (Rtd) Mohd Osman Jailu Changkat Jering), and Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi (Behrang) had left the party to become Independents.
Tiong, who is the Member of Parliament for Bintulu, said the collapse of the Pakatan Rakyat in Perak also had nothing to do with BN intervention, what more the allegation that Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had offered RM50 million to any assemblyperson from the Pakatan Rakyat to defect to the BN.
“This allegation is not true. All the three left the party as they could no longer stand the pressure and were unhappy with certain people in the Pakatan Rakyat state government,” he said.
Tiong also said the move by the Ipoh Barat PKR divison head, Fauzi Muda, in making a statutory declaration that Najib had made the offer was a slander which would tarnish the image of the leader and country as a whole.
“Why was the declaration made at the last minute, when everything was chaotic? Why not earlier? I hope the police will carry out an investigation into the serious allegation which is affecting the country’s image,” he said. — Bernama
