Parti Rakyat Malaysia vice-president Gary Nair said former PRM president Hassan Abdul Karim's defection to PKR was akin to ‘a captain abandoning his ship'.

Hassan announced his resignation at the PRM congress on Nov 15. He then personally submitted his application to join PKR to Anwar Ibrahim at the Johor PKR convention in Kluang yesterday.

NONE Nair claimed that Hassan had pre-planned his defection for a long time given that strong rumours were spreading of him having secret talks with PKR leaders.

He alleged that Hassan's main aim was to dissolve PRM and lead the members en bloc to PKR so that he would have a stronger bargaining chip and political clout.

However, when that did not happen, the PRM vice-president said Hassan felt dejected and frustrated and instantly resigned as the president.

Nair said Hassan could not accept the defeat of his proposal to join Pakatan Rakyat at the last PRM congress. Nearly 80 percent of the delegates rejected the motion.

"Hassan looked like a man in a hurry to get into Pakatan," he said.

‘Sad to leave him go'

However, he said the majority view was that PRM needed to rebuild itself from scratch before the party can think about joining a political block.

"It's sad to see him (Hassan) leave in such unceremonious circumstances after fighting so hard to save the party," lamented Nair, who doubles up as Penang PRM chief.

The last time PRM, then known as Parti Sosialis Rakyat Malaysia (PSRM), picked up a seat was in the 1978 general election. Its president, Kassim Ahmad, won the Balik Pulau parliamentary constituency in Penang.

Prior to the 2004 general election, several PRM members decided to dissolve the party and merge with Parti Keadilan Nasional (PKN).

But the move was opposed by at least 40 percent of the members.

The 60 percent pro-merger group then joined hands with PKN to form PKR on Aug 3, 2003.

The remaining 40 percent, including Hassan, fought against PRM's dissolution. Hassan was elected as the new president in a congress held in Johor on Apr 17, 2005.