Malaysian opposition member quits amid party rifts

Mon, 08 Nov 2010

Kuala Lumpur - A respected leader from Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's party quit Monday after accusing the party of hypocrisy and its leaders of condoning corruption.

Zaid Ibrahim has long been admired for hewing to principles, especially after he resigned as law minister in 2008 to protest the use of a law to detain suspects without trial or charges.

After he joined Anwar's People's Justice Party in 2009, Zaid was considered a potential successor to Anwar.

On Monday, Zaid announced his resignation from all party posts and said he would not be a candidate for its deputy president.

He said party leaders had made no attempts to address allegations of manipulation in the internal election.

"I was offered to join this party under the belief that I could promote enlightened and progressive politics, nurture and develop principled political values and culture that I consider indispensable to the development of democracy and good governance in this country.

"I was mistaken," he said.

Zaid had been expected to run against another leader who is said to be a favorite of Anwar for the party's number-two post.

"I am certain that any political party with such hypocritical and false values will not be able to offer meaningful reforms to the people of this country," he said.

Anwar said Monday that the party had yet to receive Zaid's resignation letter and urged the politician to forward evidence of irregularities.

Zaid's departure adds yet another blemish to Anwar's three-party opposition alliance, which has struggled with internal divisions since making major gains during general elections in 2008.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/352476,member-quits-party-rifts.html.