THE majority of Bersatu’s supreme council members have agreed to a proposal to sack Zuraida Kamaruddin from the party over her links with the newly formed Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM), sources said.

Zuraida’s alleged role in PBM was discussed by Bersatu’s supreme council at a meeting chaired by party president Muhyiddin Yassin on January 25.

However, no decision was made, sources from within the party added, due the lack of evidence against the Ampang MP.

“A council member suggested that Zuraida be sacked from the party. The proposal received the support of the majority but no decision was made,” a party source told The Malaysian Insight.

Another council member present confirmed the discussion but declined to comment further.

Meanwhile, Bersatu Armada chief Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal confirmed that no action could be taken against Zuraida because there was no evidence she had joined PBM.

He said Bersatu was awaiting her response.

“We will decide in the near future. It has been raised but no decision has been made yet. All council members have raised it.

“Zuraida did not say she wanted to leave Bersatu, so we have no evidence that she has done so. We presume that the founders of PBM – the assemblymen and the MPs – are all her allies.

“We are waiting for her official answer, so no decision has been made yet on her position in the party,” said Wan Ahmad Fayhsal.

He said, should Zuraida leave, the party would insist it replace her as plantation industries and commodities minister with one of its own.

“If it is true that she’s leaving, then the ministerial quota should come to us. If she joins PBM she must resign as minister and we urge the prime minister to give the portfolio to Bersatu, as long as this government remains.

“That is the party’s policy. When we formed the government, Zuraida was given a position on the basis that she is a member of Bersatu, not because she is Zuraida. If she leaves (the party) Bersatu can reclaim the seat.

“(For now) Zuraida is still a member of the party. We’re only preparing for the scenario of her departure,” he said.

Zuraida was not present at the meeting, which also discussed Bersatu’s preparations for the Johor elections.

The Malaysian Insight understands that Zuraida has not attended any Bersatu supreme council meeting since September 2020, but she has yet to verify this information.

The Ampang MP previously denied her involvement in the founding of PBM, which took over and rebranded the Sarawak Workers’ Party, approved by the Registrar of Societies (RoS) on October 27, 2021.

At the time it was rumoured that Zuraida would be leading the party as president.

In the extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on November 14, 2021, PBM approved the appointment of a new leadership line-up involving two former PKR independent MPs, Larry Sng (Julau) and Steven Choong (Tebrau).

Sng was appointed deputy president while Choong became vice president. The presidency was left intentionally vacant, fuelling speculation it was deliberately reserved for Zuraida.

Sng was then elected as PBM president in the EGM on January 8, while Choong was appointed as vice president.

Lembah Jaya assemblyman Haniza Mohd Talha, known as one of Zuraida’s core supporters, was appointed deputy president.

Zuraida was among 11 PKP lawmakers who defected to Bersatu during the Sheraton Move in February 2020, which saw the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan government.

She was the housing and local government minister in the PH administration, a portfolio which she continued under the Perikatan Nasional government led by Muhyiddin, before she was moved to plantations and commodities when Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced his cabinet late last year. – February 2, 2022.