PKR members have been reminded to follow the party’s decision to boycott Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia and its weekend edition Mingguan Malaysia .

NONE “It is part of party discipline to respect decisions that the party has made,” PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution told reporters at the party headquarters today.

He said that once an individual joins the party, any political move made by members must be in accordance with the party leadership’s decisions.

He explained that while PKR respects press freedom, Utusan had been consistently distorting news about the party since its inception in 1999.

"The leadership can see that there is a tendency in certain media, in this case Utusan , to destroy PKR, starting from the character assassination of our de facto leader (Anwar Ibrahim).

"Without fail, the daily has continually attacked the party.

"Our decision is to boycott the paper, leave it out from our press conferences, our activities. That is the party line," disclosed the secretary-general.

Disciplinary action

He added further that members who do not toe the party line and who sully the party's image by making wild statements in the media or cause disruptions, may face disciplinary action under article 27(3) of the party constitution.

"It gives the PKR supreme council the power to suspend or terminate the membership of errant members," he said.

Saifuddin said that the disciplinary board is looking at several cases and may mete out punishment to those found guilty in the ruckus of the divisional elections and other matters.

"When the supreme council is not in session, I as secretary-general, can issue a circular (to initiate disciplinary action)," added the Machang MP.

Quality of members

Saifuddin admitted that as a party, PKR lacked the established indoctrination protocols like fellow Pakatan Rakyat components PAS and DAP, to educate new party members about party rules and ideology.

This he said has caused the party to have members of 'lower quality' and caused the troubles that the party is currently seeing.

"This is because PKR is inclusive and accept all as members. But politics is a game of numbers - the more the better. Quality is an issue and we will work on it."

Saifuddin also expressed his disappointment with some in the party leadership whom he said publicly chastised his office and the party elections committee in the media.

"The supreme council are the originators and implementers of the direct elections. They amended the party constitution. They then gave the mandate to the elections committee and my office to implement."

"If they have any issues, they should not air these in the open but come to us and use proper party channels to give feedback," lamented Saifuddin.

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