Former PKR secretary-general Salehuddin Hashim today insisted that his signature on a letter dismissing P Jenapala as a party member in 2008 was forged.

“Yes, the letter bore the image of my electronic signature that I used on the thousands of circulars through which I communicated with more than 200 divisions of the party.

“So, the said letter could be a cut-and-paste job or an abuse of my electronic signature kept in the files. I leave that to the police to investigate,” he told a press conference at a golf resort in Petaling Jaya.

NONE Jenapala, Salehuddin’s former deputy, was allegedly sacked after forming another political party. Jenapala refutes this and raised a ruckus after he was barred from contesting in the recently concluded PKR polls.

                                    

He tried unsuccessfully to sue the party and sought a declaration that the elections were null and void. During the hearing, PKR lawyers tendered an affidavit of Jenapala's sacking letter signed by Salehuddin.

Salehuddin lodged a police report last week, claiming that the letter was forged. Salehuddin's successor, Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, welcomed investigations.

“The fact remains that I did not issue such a letter nor approve its content. I also never directed anyone to issue such a letter,” Salehuddin said, reading out from a prepared statement.

No due process

On claims that the letter was legitimate, he said Jenapala’s supposed sacking was still questionable as the party constitution does not give the secretary-general, or even the party president, the sole authority to sack any member.

“The letter did not say whether the sacking was deliberated by the central leadership council, or that I was directed in my capacity as secretary-general to inform the person of his sacking.

“Even then, the committee would normally hand the case over to its disciplinary committee to investigate and return with its recommendation. All such matters will be in the minutes of that central leadership council meeting,” he said.

However, he said that he was not pointing fingers at anyone, and that the dismissal letter "could be anyone’s work".

“Although usually, the secretariat will be in charge of these things,” Salehuddin said, with a chuckle.

Asked if he was involved in former Federal Territories PKR chairperson Zaid Ibrahim’s new political party, he denied it, adding that he would not comment on someone else's "aspirations that haven’t materialised yet”.

“Maybe Zaid was encouraged to give a platform to those who seek reformation and justice in the party but were denied.

'Most PKR members want to see justice'

“Most of the PKR members are genuine and truly want to see justice but are not given the platform,” he said.

Attacking his former party colleagues and leaders further, Salehudin said they should be introspective, rather than blame everyone else for their troubles.

“I was so saddened to see party members who had tried to demonstrate near the PKR congress being aggressively chased away.

“When I was younger, I would always demonstrate. But now that the party has some kind of power, the leaders seem to have forgotten themselves. They are not even in Putrajaya yet, just in Shah Alam.

“I think the leadership of PKR has lost the plot,” he said.

Salehuddin was the secretary-general of PKR from 2008 until his resignation from both his post and the party early this year.

He also announced that he would be a “reformasi activist”, setting up a blog that would serve as a watchdog on PKR.

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