KUALA LUMPUR – Former PKR vice-president Chua Tian Chang has said he has no grounds to appeal against his sacking from the party, admitting that he was wrong to stand as an independent candidate in the 15th general election.
He will instead leave it to PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to decide if he can be forgiven, as only the party head has the power to do so, Chua told The Vibes.
“I can’t write an appeal to say I didn’t do anything wrong. From day one when I contested, I was prepared to be disciplined.
“Only the president has the power to decide whether he will give clemency. From the disciplinary point of view, I’ve nothing to defend, nothing to appeal,” Chua said.
He was sacked from the party a week ago, but said he has yet to receive any official letter from the party on the matter.
“So far, not yet. There must be a notification to say you are sacked, but I don’t want to dwell on such technicalities.”
He said he would consider writing after receiving official notice of his sacking, but not to the party, and only to Anwar.
“I will only appeal to the president in the spirit of reconsideration and inclusivity, which has been promoted by him and the (unity) government.
The end of the road with PKR came for Chua after nearly 25 years, from when he was first a Reformasi activist protesting the sacking and jailing of Anwar.
The 59-year-old PKR veteran has been an Anwar loyalist, and told The Vibes previously that his one-time decision to side with Anwar’s former deputy, Datuk Seri Azmin Ali, branded him a perpetual member of Azmin’s “cartel”, which he said was untrue.
In GE15, Chua tried to wrest back his former federal constituency, Batu, running against incumbent P. Prabakaran, who had been endorsed by PKR.
Prabakaran won by a majority of more than 22,000 votes, while Chua, who had been Batu MP for two terms previously, lost his election deposit. – The Vibes, January 14, 2023
