Zulkifli will not appeal

UPDATED

By Clara Chooi

KUALA LUMPUR, March 6 – Sacked PKR MP Zulkifli Noordin has decided not to appeal his termination from the party and will remain as an Independent MP for Kulim–Bandar Bharu.

The controversial politician has chosen to remain calm in the face of his sacking, and just minutes after hearing about it, he laughed over the phone with The Malaysian Insider.

“There is no use crying over it,” he said.

He added that the party had made him a “forced Independent” when it decided to sack him as a PKR member.

“I will remain as an Independent for now but I will keep my options open. But joining Umno is a big no-no,” he told The Malaysian Insider when asked if he planned to join another party.

Zulkifli was sacked from PKR this evening when the party’s supreme council decided to endorse the recommendations made by the disciplinary board on the MP’s case.

Zulkifli was called to face the board when he infringed a party gag order and lodged a police report against Shah Alam PAS MP Khalid Samad over the “Allah” issue.

He said that he would not appeal his sacking as by doing so, it would mean he was submitting to the "Little Pharaohs"!

“Why should I appeal? The whole exercise is a sandiwara to show that they have complied with the procedural rules,” he said.

Zulkifli added that becoming an independent had not been a choice of his as he had always maintained his loyalty to the party.

“But they have forced me to become one. And I will not be sad because if defending one’s religion is a crime, then I am more than happy to be out from PKR,” he said.

Zulkifli had asked for an all-Muslim panel for his hearing but the request was rejected.

Zukifli also maintained that his loyalty to party de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had not waned as he still believed that the latter had faced too many injustices.

In fact, despite having been sacked by the party, Zulkifli said that he had no qualms about staying on as Anwar’s lead counsel in the qazaf case against Saiful Bukhari.

The qazaf or “false accusation” matter has been fixed for mention on March 10.

“If he wants me to stay on, I will. I have been loyal to Anwar because of religious principles. And the persecutions he has had to suffer is very much against the Islamic beliefs,” he said.

Zulkifli was also among the panel of lawyers handling Anwar’s first sodomy trial and had gone to detention with the leader under the Internal Security Act in 1998.

 -tamat-

3 hikmah semua kejadian ini:

1. YB Zul rasanya memang ikhlas nak memperjuangkan Islam kerana tidak menyertai UMNO malah menzahirkan penentangannya kepada UMNO. Meskipun begitu, YB Zul selama ini menunjukkan sikap kurang ajar dan tidak mampu bersama-sama jemaah apabila sentiasa menyerang jemaah dan Pakatan dalam pelbagai isu dengan cara yang tidak berhikmah.

Hikmah pertama ialah pergesaran dan kontroversi yang kerap dikaitkan dengan YB Zul bolehlah dikurangkan selepas ini harapnya.

2. Hikmah kedua ialah tindak-tanduk YB Zul selepas ini tidak boleh dikaitkan dengan Pakatan lagi. Ini penting untuk Pakatan memandangkan Pakatan pun sedang membuat operasi pembersihan.

3. Kritikan bolehlah dibuat dengan sepuas-puas hati oleh YB Zul selepas ini secara individu. Meskipun begitu, sekiranya YB Zul anak jantan, eloklah jawatan dilepaskan secara elok agar pilihanraya boleh dilakukan.

Ini peluang baik untuk memastikan samada YB Zul menang kerana kekuatan peribadi dan sokongan masyarakat kepada dirinya atau kepada parti.

Wassalam.