Saturday, November 29, 2008

Zaid Ibrahim makes appearance at PKR congress - Star

By SHAHANAAZ HABIB, WANI MUTHIAH, TEH ENG HOCK and NURBAITI HAMDAN

SHAH ALAM: Nov 29, 2008

Former minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim who is an Umno member caused a stir Saturday by showing up at the PKR national congress opening.

He however denied that he had joined PKR or any other opposition party.

“Yes, yes, I am still in Umno. I have not been sacked yet,” he said Saturday when approached by reporters.

On Friday night, he was seen at the DAP victory dinner in Penang which fuelled talk that he was going to join the Opposition.

Zaid who recently received a show-cause letter from Umno said he was still waiting for the response from the party.

On why he was present at the PKR congress, Zaid said it was because he was invited to it and because he was interested in politics.

On whether it showed he supported Pakatan Rakyat, he said repeatedly “it just shows I’m interested in politics.”

On whether it was right for him to be present at a congress which openly slammed Umno, Zaid said, that was normal in politics.

“The Opposition is not an enemy. They are just people with different views so I don’t regard them as an enemy. They ‘bantai’ (slam) Umno and Umno slams them. It’s part of the game,” he said.

On whether he had any fear that Umno would now be forced to take action against him for showing up at the opening of the PKR congress which featured Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as the keynote speaker, he said, “I think I don’t have that much fear. I fear more for my health. I am not well.”

Others present at the opening of the congress were DAP’s Lim Kit Siang, Karpal Singh, Teresa Kok, Dr Chen Man Hin, PAS vice-president Datuk Husam Musa, Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Nizar Jamaluddin, PAS secretary-general Datuk Kamaruddin Jaafar and SAPP president Datuk Yong Teck Lee.

SAPP recently left Barisan Nasional but it has not joined Pakatan Rakyat as yet.

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