KUALA LUMPUR: PKR vice-president Dr A. Xavier Jayakumar has urged Nurul Izzah Anwar to continue to contribute to PKR, despite her having stepped down as party vice-president and Penang party chairman.
Dr Xavier said that the Permatang Pauh MP would still be able to provide her valuable assistance to the party.
“I hope that she would look at how (she could) help the party move forward.
“Whatever (the reason behind her resignation), we accept her as a member.
“What is important is the party, not any (single) individual. The party comes first. That is what I ask for party members to focus on,” he said today.
The Water, Land and Natural Resources Minister was speaking after attending the first convocation of the Geospatial Science and Technology College here, today.
On the reason behind Nurul Izzah’s shock move, Dr Xavier said that she had perhaps “contemplated the real political situation in Malaysia”.
Nurul Izzah dropped a bombshell on Monday when she announced her resignation as PKR vice-president and Penang PKR chairman.
The daughter of party president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Nurul Izzal also announced that she would no longer be serving the federal government in any capacity.
“My only regret is that I should have made this announcement sooner. But it has not been an easy decision to arrive at.
“The pace of political developments has been relentless for the last nine months, with party elections following a gruelling general election campaign.
“Now that I have had the chance to take stock of where I stand in relation to politics, I am resolved to doing the right thing,” she was quoted as saying.
Despite appeals from various quarters, she maintained that she would not make a U-turn on her decision.
Nurul Izzah had faced a barrage of criticism prior to her decision to quit, in particular over her appointment as Penang PKR chief.
PKR member Latheefa Koya had taken issue with Nurul Izzah’s appointment, labelling it inappropriate given that her father is PKR president and that the practice of appointing close relatives to important positions “should have no place in a reformist party.”
Last night, Anwar issued a damning indictment of a section of the party leadership, whom he said appeared to be more interested in playing politics than serving the people.
He broadly hinted that the disillusionment with the actions of these individuals could have been behind the shock move by his daughter.
Anwar said her departure is an indictment of certain individuals within PKR’s leadership “whose deceptive platitudes place individual greed above party unity.”
He then specifically singled out the recent exodus of Umno members as contributing to this disillusionment. --Reporting by Hidir Reduan Abdul Rashid and Mohd Iskandar Ibrahim