Khairy sees a Pakatan Rakyat breakdown

Khairy sees a Pakatan Rakyat breakdown

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 19 — Khairy Jamaluddin, the outspoken Umno MP for Rembau, is calling Zukifli Nordin’s defiance of the Parti Keadilan Rakyat leadership the start of a “Pakatan rupture”.

Writing in his blog Out of the cage, the prime minister’s son-in-law has launched an attack on “the marriage of convenience” that “has been exposed for the sham that it is”.

Zulkifli, the PKR MP for Kulim Bandar Baru, had led a protest against a Bar Council forum on Aug 9 dealing with conversion to Islam issues. Forum critics, including Umno’s top leadership, had supported Zulkifli's action on the grounds that sensitive religious issues should not be openly debated.

Khairy began by noting that Zulkifli was spotted in Parliament yesterday amidst “ridiculous” rumours swirling that he may have been picked up and detained under the Internal Security Act. Khairy suggests that the “rumour was initiated by Zulkifli himself to deflect from mounting criticism within his own party over his role in the demonstration (against the forum)”.

He went on: “I also note with interest that notwithstanding the PKR leadership's censure of Zulkifli's actions, he remained unrepentant and defiant when launching further attacks on the Bar Council.

“Although Zulkifli has refused to back down and toe the party line, PKR Chief Whip, Azmin Ali (PKR-Gombak) has let Zulkifli off the hook by accepting his explanation. It seems Azmin's decision to allow Zulkifli to continue to maintain his position against the Bar Council is inconsistent with the stand of the PKR and Pakatan Rakyat leadership.

“This is not about whether Zulkifli is right or wrong. This is about the fundamental ties that bind this so-called political coalition that has designs on running this country very soon.

“Why is the silence of the Pakatan Rakyat leadership deafening in the face of Zukifli's open defiance of his own party's censure? Why is the normally glib Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timor) not chastising Zulkifli for defending his action at the Bar Council which was condemned by many DAP leaders?

“Is the self-proclaimed PM-in-waiting, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, unable to prevent his own MP from repeatedly breaking ranks with the party line?”

“Let's not forget that Zulkifli was not alone at the protest outside the Bar Council. Salahuddin Ayub (PAS-Kubang Kerian) was also present to lend his support to the demonstrators.

“What are the views of YBs Lim (Senior and Junior) on Salahuddin's presence at the Bar Council? Or is it more silence? Is DAP's deafening silence over the Zulkifli issue a signal that DAP is willing to compromise its stand for the sake of keeping up Pakatan pretenses in its quest for power?

“Lim Senior should spend less time obsessing about Gerakan's role in Barisan Nasional and focus his jurassic energies on preventing a rupture in Pakatan Rakyat.”

Here's Khairy’s scathing conclusion: “For all its talk of a new Malaysia and a real alternative against BN, Pakatan Rakyat remains a politically expedient arrangement among strange bedfellows bound not by a shared ideology but by a common lust for power. The rupture has begun.”

kzso - khairy who?