Zaid held a press conference at his home at 3pm a little while ago.
I reproduce below the text of his press release that was distributed at the press conference.
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“Effective today, I will be taking 6 months leave from Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR). This means that I will not be attending the political bureau meetings of the party. A letter to that effect has been delivered to the Secretary-General of the party.
I joined PKR because of my interest to try and put together a common policy platform for Pakatan Rakyat (PR). This common poicy framework for the coalition of the 3 parties, PKR, DAP and PAS respectively, are now in the final stages and I expect to submit the policy framework to the leadership of the respective parties next week.
That being said, a lot more work has to be done inunderstanding the concerns of the members and the rakyat. A lot more work still needs to be done to provide a cohesive foundation for the coalition and this involves meeting various leaders and members of the respective parties parties. With the Pakatan Rakyat Convention due to take place in December 2009, I need time to finalise the policy framework which hopefully will be approved by the leadership of the respective parties.
Lately, there have been reports of the political frictions of the PKR leadership with regards to Sabah and Sarawak and that I was in some way involved. I wish to reiterate that I am not involved in PKR leaders to meet the members, which I have accepted. Similarly, I have also been invited to meet some leaders of Sarawak in Kuching. I see no sinister motive in these invitations.
I have no interest in the internal politics of PKR, nor of any of the other parties in Pakatan Rakyat. Neither do I aspire to asume a leadership role in PKR. I made this very clear to Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim when I joined the party. I only want to be a facilitator to bring about the realization of a strong, credible and united opposition – an opposition with a strong leadership, sound common policies and structures to be a meaningful alternative to Barisan Nasional (BN). Only a strong united opposition can restore democracy in this country and can provide good policies to the people.
We must move beyond the BN bashing and sloganeering stage. Only clearly defined policies and a united leadership of Pakatan Rakyat can convinve Malaysians that we are a suitable choice for the rakyat. I hope that from my meetings, dialogues and discussions with the members of the 3 parties at all levels, the dream of a united opposition can be realized.
I also refer to the statement by the Prime Minister on 13th October, 2009 about myinvolvement in money politics when I was in UMNO.
When I was made a minister, one of the first thinngs I did was ask the then Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) to investigate the findings of money politics against me by the UMNO Disciplinary Tribunal. I believe I was framed by UMNO and found the findings of the Tribunal flawed, where basic rules of evidence were ignored. I felt that a Minister should be free of such misconduct, especially when the Governmennt had committed itself to rid corruption in the country. I believe my request was acted upon by the ACA and they commenced investigations. I have not heard of the findings till today.
The Prime Minister should not take jibes at me when it suits him. He should be more interested in the truth. I therefore wish to appeal to him, tooo instrcut the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) tp complete its investigation and the findings disclosed to the public. I am prepared to face the charges if there is evidence of corrupt practice. But if I am innocent, then the Prime Minister should hold his peace and refrain from making such statements in the future”.
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I asked Zaid whether, given his statement that he would be goiing to Sabah and Sarawak notwithstanding the directive from the party top leadership to the contrary, this would not suggest a falling out between himself and the top party leadership.
Zaid said there was no falling out between himself and any in the party leadership.
I then asked Zaid if he concurred that PKR was facing a crisis of sorts in Sabahh and Sarawak and, if so, what he thought was needed to resolve the criisis.
Zaid acknowledged that PKR was facing a crisis of sorts in East Malaysia. The solution, he felt, was to let the people of Sabah and Sarawak decide for themselves on matters of their local leadership. Zaid said that this ought to apply not just in Sabah and Sarawak but anywhere else as well. Let the democratic process take its course.
This, he said, was the message he would be taking to with him to Sabah and Sarawak.
I asked whether this was a Zaid message or a PKR message.
“I will be speaking for Zaid Ibrahim”, he replied.
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