24 June, 2008
By SHAHANAAZ HABIB, The Star
KUALA LUMPUR: PKR has distanced itself from the allegations made by Malaysia Today editor Raja Petra Kamaruddin, said party vice-president Azmin Ali.
He dismissed speculation that PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was in any way involved in getting Raja Petra to make the allegations.“Why must you link everything to him?
“That statutory declaration was prepared by Raja Petra. It has no links to any political party. We must respect the courage of Raja Petra to put everything on record. That carries a lot of weight,” he said at the Parliament lobby yesterday.
Raja Petra, at the height of the Anwar crisis in 1998, was a strong supporter of the sacked deputy prime minister. He had been one of the key persons disseminating information on Anwar and Parti Keadilan Nasional (now PKR) through various websites.
However, he was said to have had a fall out with Anwar later.
Azmin denied that PKR was trying to drive a wedge between Umno’s two top leaders.
“They are already having big problems which are deepening now,” he claimed.
On the plans for a no-confidence vote against Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as Prime Minister, he said Pakatan Rakyat was still looking into and discussing the approach and strategy.
“Parliament only ends on July 15 so there’s no rush. What is important is that the transition (from Barisan to PR) is smooth,” he said.
Last week the Sabah Progressive Party broke ranks with the Barisan Nasional coalition, by saying that it has lost confidence in Abdullah’s leadership and its two MPs would support a no-confidence motion or vote against the Prime Minister,
Azmin said the Sept 16 time frame for Anwar to be Prime Minister was still on track.
“But it could be much earlier than that,” he said.
Barisan won 140 seats in Parliament, while the Opposition has 82 seats.
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