PETALING JAYA: Former PKR secretary-general Salehuddin Hashim today urged party members to be wary of the party's "so-called transparent leadership" which has veered from its true path of reform.
In his first press conference since he exposed the alleged forgery of his signature in a letter sacking former deputy secretary-general P Jenapala, he said the party has now "lost the plot" in its journey towards a reformed government that cared about the people.
"My personal concern is the deliberate use of my name to facilitate a fraud, but my bigger concern as an activist is that a so-called reformist party is falling into the trap of abusing the secretariat (an institution under its total control) to further its aim to achieve power expeditiously at the expense of the rights of its members," he said.
Salehuddin said the problems in the party were not the fault of the members but were caused by leaders hungry for power.
"Many leaders are looking for power for their own interests rather than looking out for the interests of the rakyat. The leadership of PKR has lost the plot... it has hijacked reformasi," said Salehuddin, who quit PKR in January this year after a fallout with PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim.
In an affidavit filed on Nov 23, Salehuddin, who served as secretary-general from April 2008 till January 2010, claimed he had no knowlegde of the “letter of dismissal” (see below) purportedly signed by him, sacking Jenapala from the party.
Salehuddin lodged a report urging the police to investigate it as a criminal offence as the letter was never issued nor approved by him during his tenure in the party.
The alleged “dismissal letter” dealt a blow to Jenapala's bid to challenge PKR against disqualifying him from contesting the deputy presidency in the just-concluded party election.
(Jenapala filed a suit against PKR in the High Court on Nov 25 to get a declaration that he was entitled to contest the number two slot, but judge Aziah Ali dismissed it, saying the decision of a political party cannot be challenged in court as stipulated under Section 18 (c) of the Societies Act 1966 (revised 1987).
"All the abuses of power started off as small, almost insignificant acts of deceit, such as the one I'm highlighting now. Otherwise, it will be a case of 'alah bisa tegar biasa' (when you do something regularly, you become used to it)," said Salehuddin.
He said he was not so much concerned over the suitability of Jenapala to run in the election as much as the fact that his name and office were used fraudulently.
"This is not a political matter, this is a criminal matter," he said. "As it is now in the hands of the police, I shall leave it to them to investigate.
"I'm pleased that PKR officials have indicated their willingness to give their full cooperation, unlike Tian Chua, who has appointed himself spokesman of the police by saying that they will not be interested in the technical details.”
"It is the details that make up the whole, and it was poor attention to details that resulted in the poor control and management of the recent party elections," said Salehuddin.
'No single person can sack a member'
Stressing that Jenapala was never sacked and that the letter was forged, Salehuddin said that the letter itself was against the party's constitution."No single person in the party may decide on the sacking of a member, not even the president. The letter did not state if the sacking was deliberated by the supreme council or the political bureau.
"If we follow how the letter was written, then it meant that I could have sacked Anwar himself anytime," Salehuddin said, adding that a secretary-general is only a “messenger” and had no powers to dismiss anyone.
He questioned why in the minutes of a PKR meeting in August 2009 the political bureau had considered suspending the membership of Jenapala when the party claimed that he was sacked earlier.
"Why would the political bureau be considering disciplinary action against Jenapala seven months after he was purportedly sacked by me via that letter dated Feb 2, 2009?
"Evidently, Jenapala was a member and was never sacked. This could be seen when he took part in the party's functions and ceramahs in the presence of top officials of the party," he said.
Salehuddin chided current secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution who was quoted in the papers as saying that he merely found the files and would not have known if it had been forged.
"Any self-respecting secretary-general who does his job would have reacted in astonishment if he found the letter in the files," he said.
Salehuddin urged the police to haul up PKR leaders to the courts to explain the situation as several possible offences have been committed under the Penal Code, including cheating, forgery, making a false document and or criminal conspiracy.
Meanwhile, Salehuddin, who worked as a lawyer, said that he would act as a political watchdog from now and would start blogging under the name "Activist Reformasi".
"Once a week, as when necessary, I will jot down my observations of what is really going on in the reformasi movement. I still am a reformasi activist. It does not mean if you are against Anwar, you are against reformasi. It does not mean if you do not support PKR, you support Umno."
On whether he will support former PKR member Zaid Ibrahim's new party when it is formed sometime next year, Salehuddin said he needed to wait and see the party itself first.
"Perhaps Zaid is spurred by a desire to create a platform for those who have the reform spirit but does not have a place for it. I know many people in PKR who are contemplating leaving the party. Most are sincere and want change."
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