'Blame yourselves for defections, PKR'

Kulim assemblyperson Lim Soo Nee, dubbed the most likely PKR representative to ‘jump ship’, blamed the party’s defection woes on insiders who speculate or conspire against their colleagues.

During his speech at a PAS organised rally in Kota Sarang Semut last night, Lim ( right ) was the only assemblyperson who criticised PKR openly, saying the party was responsible for the loss of confidence over its leadership.

Lim identified what he called the 'push and pull’ factors that may explain why PKR reps were abandoning the Pakatan Rakyat cause.

He urged the leadership to conduct a post-mortem immediately to find a solution.

“The pull factors are conspiracies and disturbances by BN and Umno, which we are all familiar with,” he told the 2,000-strong crowd, which fell silent at his revelations.

“The push factors are disturbances from people inside the party who purposely issue wrong information to destroy the reputation of party members,” he added.

“I do not deny that this is happening to bring the downfall of Pakatan Rakyat,” he admitted.

Need for post-mortem

Lim was speaking at the event where he and three other assemblyperson were compelled to pledge their loyalty to the PAS-led government after rumours of their defections spread like wild fire across the country.

Lim, who is also a state exco, said he was extremely sad over the defection of two Kedah PKR assemblypersons, Tan Wei Shu (Bakar Arang) and Mohd Radzhi Salleh (Lunas), who have since become independents.

‘Why do we only blame others (for their resignation), why don’t we sit down instead and analyse why our assemblypersons are leaving us,” he said.

“So many have left the party but until today, there has been no post mortem to find out why at all,” he exclaimed.

Lim then expressed deep dissatisfaction with the party’s leadership and the state government, at which point an elderly man in the audience broke the silence shouting, “What is it you are not satisfied about?”

            

Lim ignored the question and continued to say that he preferred to express these feelings than bury them in his heart.

    

The Kulim rep said he used to raise many issues publicly so that the rakyat would be aware of what is happening within the state.

“But BN played around with these issues, and I was deemed the ‘opposition’ in the Kedah government. But then if we do not talk, then what is the difference between us and BN or MCA?” he asked.

‘Give and take’

At a press conference after the event, Menteri Besar Azizan Abdul Razak ( left in photo ) accepted Lim’s open criticism of his administration, saying he will look into the latter’s concerns.

“We’ll have to see what were the problems he had raised; sometimes we can resolve them, at other times (we cannot); we have to look at the issues first,” he added.

State PKR chief Ahmad Kassim added that the party held monthly meetings where problems could be discussed.

“(These) issues we can discuss openly and in detail within these party meetings, whether in the political bureau or executive committee. But some have to be brought to the menteri besar or state government,” said Ahmad.

“There are many problems which he has raised, but we cannot resolve all of them because we have to consider other factors and communities as well. We have to give and take, and Lim understands this very well,” he added.