SUSPENDED Sarawak PKR deputy chairman Baharuddin Mokshen has quit the party he helped shape for 14 years.

Baharuddin, or Baha, as he is better known, said he did not submit a formal resignation letter but left by way of refusing to respond to a show cause letter and letting the deadline for his appeal lapse.

“I’ve moved on. (There’s) no turning back now,” the Petra Jaya division chairman told The Malaysian Insight.

A supporter of former PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali, Baharuddin was suspended and served a show cause letter on June 5 after he was accused of “activities sabotaging the party” by taking part in the February “Sheraton Move” that led to the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan federal government.

Baharuddin said his departure could trigger a mass walkout of leaders and members in 15 of the 29 Malay-Melanau state seats.

He said a ruling political party had been attempting to woo PKR’s Malay-Melanau members, including himself, which he had rebuffed.

He also ruled out joining Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB), a multi-racial party like PKR, made up of former Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) members.

He said he rejected these offers as there was no guarantee from these parties that Malay-Melanaus who quit PKR will be made their candidates in the Sarawak elections due next year.

Baharuddin said he also supported Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin, who was PKR vice-president and who defected with Azmin.

Zuraida, Azmin and nine other MPs left PKR in February, the same time Bersatu stepped out of the PH coalition, effectively toppling the federal government. The former PH members subsequently formed the new government with Barisan Nasional, PAS and Gabungan Parti Sarawak. 

Baharuddin said he continued to support ex-PKR lawmakers who were now in government –  Saratok MP Ali Biju, who is deputy energy and natural resources minister, and Puncak Borneo MP Willie Mongin, who is deputy plantations and commodities minister.

“So I will still support and help them out,” Baharuddin said.

Biju and Mongin are independent MPs who are pro-Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

Baharuddin said he had lost faith in PKR president Anwar Ibrahim and was also disillusioned with the party, accusing Anwar of allowed it to be “hijacked by people who had never fought for the political reforms” while Anwar was in jail. – August 20, 2020.