Wanita PKR chief Zuraida Kamaruddin said she has fully explained the Citizens’ Declaration to some Otai Reformis members, who had urged the party to take disciplinary action against its leaders who had collaborated with ex-premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad in the inking of the Citizens’ Declaration.

“I have explained paragraphs 36 and 37 of the Citizens’ Declaration to them, which call for institutional reform that will lead to the release of politically persecuted individuals like Anwar Ibrahim,” Zuraida said today.

Otai Reformis is a group of individuals who were involved in the 1998 Reformasi movement that protested against the sacking of Anwar as deputy prime minister by the then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Last Tuesday, the group’s secretary, Abdul Razak Ismail, had said that Anwar was imprisoned for the first time during Mahathir’s tenure as prime minister.

“Until today, Mahathir has not agreed to support the release of Anwar Ibrahim, who is currently imprisoned in Sungai Buloh.

“As an individual, I urge PKR President Wan Azizah Wan Ismail to suspend Azmin Ali, Rafizi Ali and Tian Chua from duty because I perceive their actions as an act of betrayal to the party’s struggles and agendas,” Abdul Razak added.

The Otai Reformis secretary also questioned the PKR leaders’ actions, who he perceived are collaborating with Mahathir and also treating him as a hero of sorts.

Citizens’ Declaration misunderstood

In response, Zuraida said some Otai Reformis members had misunderstood the Citizens’ Declaration.

“The Otai Reformis members I have spoken to now have a clearer picture of the Citizens’ Declaration and some of them are also helping to attain signatures from the public in its support.

“We will engage more Otai Reformis members to fully explain paragraphs 36 and 37 in the declaration,” she added when asked during a morning walkabout at Kompleks Muhibbah Ampang.

Accompanied by former Umno Batu Kawan deputy division chief Khairuddin Abu Hassan and Bersih 2.0 chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah and about 20 PKR and Citizens’ Declaration supporters, the Ampang MP had also earlier visited the Ampang Market to attain signatures from the rakyat in support for the Citizens’ Declaration.

“We have collected about 1,500 signatures from these two places so far, and we hope to obtain more when we visit the Ampang Point mall, LRT stations and food courts in my constituency,” Zuraida said.

Maria, who was also present on her own individual capacity, added that the group will strive to collect as many signatures as possible.

“The reform agenda will include getting rid of repressive laws to make sure all the (national) institutions are strengthened so they can investigate any matter independently,” the Bersih 2.0 leader said.