PKR Wanita deputy chief and Sementa assemblyman Daroyah Alwi quit the party today after 20 years, citing a loss of confidence in president Anwar Ibrahim’s leadership.

She said she will be an independent assemblyman friendly to the Perikatan Nasional federal government.

“After thinking long and hard about the situation in PKR now, I hereby announce my resignation as deputy Wanita chief as well as my withdrawal from PKR effective June 13.

“I am making this decision as I have lost confidence and trust in the party president, who continuously harped about the idealism and struggle of the party but causing division instead.”

Daroyah, who is Selangor assembly deputy speaker, announced this in a press conference in Shah Alam, where 48 other PKR members also quit the party.

They include Selangor PKR Wanita leaders, councillors, branch leaders and state leaders of the party’s youth wing.

Daroyah said she had informed Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari of her departure from PKR.

“I have discussed this matter with the menteri besar and he disagreed with my decision. But for me, I have decided to hold fast. It is difficult after being in this party for 20 years.”

She said she will be writing about her resignation as Selangor assembly deputy speaker to the speaker.

On her decision to quit the party, Daroyah said the PKR leadership had sowed deep divisions instead of the unity it promised members.

“The president and his loyalists have failed to uphold the trust that the majority of party members have given them.”

She cited the recent sackings and suspensions of party members, some of whom have built up the party from its founding days in the late 1990s.

PKR carried out mass sackings of over 300 members, mostly those supportive of former deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali, after he defected to Bersatu during political turmoil in late February to form the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition that toppled the elected Pakatan Harapan (PH)  government.

Another close to 300 PKR members were suspended.

“I do not wish to be connected with the struggle for political power nor the mass sackings of PKR members.

“Unlike before, PKR’s struggle is no longer about reforms but about seizing power,” said Daroyah who is said to be aligned to Azmin.

On the exodus of other PKR members and leaders today, she said among them included the Selangor PKR Women’s chief and the Kapar branch chief. 

PKR has lost a number of members following the PH government’s collapse, which ex-deputy president Azmin had a role in. He is now with Bersatu and is a senior minister in the PN government.

Other PKR MPs who followed Azmin out of PKR are with Bersatu, or in the case of Sarawak’s Baru Bian, have joined state opposition parties.

PKR also recently lost another MP, Lubok Antu lawmaker Jugah Muyang, who said he will be a PN-friendly independent. – June 13, 2020.