Prabakaran unseats Tian Chua as Batu PKR chief

Prabakaran unseats Tian Chua as Batu PKR chief


PKR veteran Tian Chua has been unseated as the division chief in Batu, Kuala Lumpur.

He was defeated by former protege-turned-rival P Prabakaran who garnered 517 votes.

Chua, who is an incumbent PKR vice-president, managed to get 306 votes.

The tally does not include "doubtful votes", which number 82 for Prabakaran and 24 for Tian Chua.

Doubtful votes are segregated from the tally as they required further verification by the election committee before they can be confirmed.

However, in the case of the Batu division, the doubtful votes are not enough to change the outcome of the election.

Chua did not defend his position as a vice-president and was only going for a divisional post in the current party election.

Sheraton Move

In the 2018 general election, Chua backed Prabakaran after he was disqualified from contesting the Batu parliamentary seat.

The gulf between them grew after the Sheraton Move.

Chua was sidelined due to his association with former PKR deputy president Azmin Ali, who defected to Bersatu.

Notably, he was harassed and assaulted by angry party members after the Sheraton Move which saw the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan government due to defections.

Following the Sheraton Move, Chua announced the setting up of an NGO called Daya, which critics claimed was linked to Azmin, a claim Chua denied.

Ultimately, Chua remained with PKR and continued to back PKR president Anwar Ibrahim's leadership.

Meanwhile, Mohd Hafiz Solkapeli (458 votes) defeated Ramli Taha (310 votes) for the position of Batu PKR deputy chief.