'No regrets': Rafizi defends Kajang Move, says it was about integrity

Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli has hit back at a former senior aide to the late Khalid Ibrahim, who claimed he was being punished by God for his role in the latter’s 2014 ouster as Selangor menteri besar.

Responding to criticism from Faekah Husin, Rafizi said he had no regrets for engineering the political move.

"I have no regrets. If I went back to 2014, I would have done exactly the same thing,” he said in an episode of his podcast last night featuring Malaysiakini.

The Kajang Move refers to when Rafizi and PKR engineered a by-election in the Kajang state seat, as a precursor of efforts to remove Khalid from office.

The then PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim was supposed to be the candidate, but he was stymied by a Court of Appeal decision convicting him on a sodomy charge.

Anwar’s wife, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, contested instead and was put up as a candidate for menteri besar to replace Khalid - before the post ultimately went to then PKR deputy president Azmin Ali.

Necessary to protect PKR’s integrity

Commenting on the event, Rafizi said the move was necessary to protect PKR’s integrity after Khalid’s controversial out-of-court settlement with Bank Islam in 2014 over a US$18.5 million loan that the bank sought to recover from him.

There have been inconsistent conversions of the US$18.5 million, but it has at times been referred to as RM70 million, including interest.

Rafizi said the perception he and others in PKR, including Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, had was that the settlement compromised Khalid, especially since the deal reached was not properly explained.

He also denied assertions - including by Faekah - that the Kajang Move’s goal was to make Anwar the Selangor menteri besar.

"It (Kajang Move) was not initiated to make Anwar the menteri besar, but it is about integrity involving RM70 million (settlement).

"But for whatever reason, the narrative was somehow successfully changed to paint it as a move to oust Khalid and replace him with Anwar,” he said.

The former economy minister said the same mindset is propelling his crusade against the "corporate mafia" scandal today.

He stressed that the line is clear when it comes to matters of integrity, and the country cannot practise double standards in dealing with corruption, or else it would face destruction.

“I'm comforted, I don't think I have changed. In 2014, the matter was that we couldn’t compromise on integrity, even if we pitied Khalid, but what to do?

“The same goes for now, whether it’s about (MACC chief commissioner) Azam Baki, or Anwar, I have to stand up and be forced to deal with all sorts of characters - exactly for the same reason when it comes to the question of integrity,” he said.

God decides divine retribution

Rafizi also advised Faekah against putting a religious spin on current events by saying he was now experiencing kifarah (karmic retribution).

Rafizi said the late Harun Din, a renowned Islamic scholar in Malaysia and former PAS spiritual leader, had also reprimanded those who speculated whether someone was being punished by God.

He said any divine retribution was for God to decide, not humans.

He also urged Faekah to stop riding on Khalid's name, saying that such action would only bring up negative stories about the deceased.

Likewise, he warned that anyone in PKR weaponising Faekah may also dredge up stories they would prefer to be left in the past.

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