4,000 Alor Mengkudu PPBM members quit
ALOR SETAR, April 13 (Bernama) -- About 4,000 members of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) from 15 polling districts in the Alor Mengkudu state constituency today announced their resignation from the party, according to spokesman Muhamad Rizal Zainol Abidin.
Muhamad Rizal, the Alor Melintang polling district chief who also spoke for the other 14 polling district chiefs, said they left the party over disappointment with the nomination of Kedah Amanah deputy chairman Datuk Phahrolrazi Mohd Zawawi as the Pakatan Harapan candidate for the seat in the 14th general election on May 9.
He said all the ex-PPBM members had decided to join UMNO immediately.
"We feel having been betrayed after working hard to set up the party machinery and garnering sympathy for Pakatan Harapan and then denied the opportunity to have a PPBM candidate named for the seat.
"The seat was handed to an Amanah candidate who is clearly an unknown and failed to serve the constituents of Alor Mengkudu," he said to reporters at a feast for the people attended by thousands of party members.
At a 'ceramah' (talk) in Hutan Kampung yesterday, Amanah president Mohamad Sabu announced the names of 13 candidates for the three parliamentary and 10 state seats the party would contest in Kedah, and among the names was Phahrolrazi's.
Muhammad Rizal said the tactic was clearly a political ploy because the allocation of seats had been agreed to by the component parties of Pakatan Harapan.
He said the party machinery at the 15 polling districts would be dissolved and all the ex-members would support Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Bashah Md Hanipah who is also Kedah Barisan Nasional chairman.
"We also pledge to campaign for the victory of the BN candidate in Alor Mengkudu. This will serve as a lesson for the Pakatan Harapan leadership not to practise the politics of self-interest and neglect the promise made," he said.
-- BERNAMA
