Be wary of accepting 'trash can leaders' like Zahidi, PKR told

Be wary of accepting 'trash can leaders' like Zahidi, PKR told


The PKR leadership should be wary about accepting “trash can leaders” like former Umno supreme council member Zahidi Zainul Abidin, a Perlis PKR leader said.

This is to prevent upsetting grassroots members, said Perlis PKR vice-chairperson Asrul Nizan Abd Jalil.

“As a party that champions the reformation agenda, we welcome anyone to join the party, especially to make the Malaysia Madani agenda work, but we have had bad experiences with ‘trash can leaders’ before.

“These were so-called leaders who come into PKR from other parties and rose through the ranks, before ultimately backstabbing PKR,” Asrul, a former Sena assemblyperson, was quoted by Utusan Malaysia telling reporters after attending a function in Kangar last night.

According to him, PKR grassroots would be enraged if the party leadership accepted “dead weight” into its fold.

Zahidi Zainul Abidin


Asrul was commenting on a statement by Zahidi, a former Padang Besar MP, that he and about 100 of his supporters will submit applications to join PKR today.


‘Will hurt party’

Elaborating, Asrul said accepting them would hurt PKR at the national level and hurt inter-party relations in the current government.

He hoped the PKR leadership, led by president cum Prime Minister Anwar Ibahim, will make the “best judgment” regarding Zahidi’s application to join the party.

“It would be difficult to maintain the current relationships if PKR does not heed sensitivities by accepting leaders who have betrayed their parties previously.”

Umno kicked out Zahidi during the 15th general election in November after he ran for the Padang Besar seat as an independent. He lost his deposit.

Yesterday, Zahidi claimed he was just a “small fry” who would pose no threat to Pakatan Harapan and its component parties, unlike recently sacked Umno member Khairy Jamaluddin who might threaten PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli’s future political ambitions.