By G. Manimaran
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 25 — Kulim-Bandar Baharu MP, Zulkifli Noordin has accused his party leader, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim of bias after the latter directed him to withdraw a police report he had lodged against PAS parliamentarian, Khalid Samad.
Zulkifli also maintains he would not withdraw the report unconditionally.
“I will not take back the report against Khalid. If they want me to withdraw it, Khalid must also withdraw his statement saying that Selangor Islamic enactments are outdated and he also needs to apologise,” he told The Malaysian Insider when contacted today.
Zulkifli also conveyed the same message to PKR de facto leader Anwar at around 11.30am, via an emailed response to an earlier message he received from Anwar last night.
Elaborating further, Zulkifli said Anwar, both as a leader and a Muslim, needed to be neutral in this matter.
“I wrote to him saying that I respect the differences in opinion as he mentioned in his email. But as a leader and a Muslim, his actions should be neutral.
“Instead, he chose to take sides by backing (Khalid’s statement),” said Zulkifli.
According to him, Anwar’s email asked for him to drop the police report he had filed against the PAS lawmaker and told him to accept the fact that different opinions will exist in both the party and Pakatan Rakyat.
Furthermore, the email declared that Zulkifli would not be referred to the political bureau scheduled for tomorrow.
Last night, Anwar had stated that Zulkifli would be hauled in front of the disciplinary board for his latest actions, before adding that the latter’s filing of a police report had not only “crossed the line” but had also disappointed him.
Anwar confirmed that he has written to Zulkifli and was expecting an explanation before Tuesday.
Explaining further his email to Anwar, Zulkifli said he has no qualms about PKR and PAS being components of the Pakatan Rakyat coalition.
His issue, he claims, was only with Khalid overstepping his bounds by suggesting the state’s Islamic enactments were obsolete and needed to be overhauled.
“I made the report against Khalid in my personal capacity after he made the statement, which to my mind was criminal in nature.
“I felt that he had insulted Muslims and, at the same time, driven Muslim support away from Pakatan,” he said.
On his referral to the disciplinary board, Zulkifli said he was prepared for it and was not afraid to face the consequences.
“It is the party’s prerogative to take action as they see fit, as it is mine to voice my opinions,”
“The party should value my views... I give views that benefit the party by maintaining Muslim support for it,” Zulkifli added.
Yesterday, the PKR Youth urged party leaders to act against Zulkifli after he filed a police report against Khalid for alleged sedition.
According to the wing’s leader, Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin, Zulkifli should not have tried to get a colleague from the same coalition investigated under the Sedition Act.
“What he did is against the principle of musyawarah (intellectual debate),” said Shamsul, who also added that the actions were “very Umno-like”.
This morning, PKR supreme council member, Datuk Zaid Ibrahim today said the party should sack lawmaker Zulkifli over his latest move.
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