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GEORGE TOWN – PKR secretary-general Datuk Saifuddin Nasution Ismail has taken Rafizi Ramli to task for claiming that it was he who offered Saifuddin his current party post, ahead of their clash for the deputy president’s seat next month.
Saifuddin, who is now Kulim-Bandar Baharu MP, said Rafizi may have been misinformed if he thought that it was due to him that Saifuddin assumed his post in 2016 and also got appointed as an aide in the Penang chief minister’s office in 2017.
“Neither did Rafizi play a role in me becoming a special aide to the then chief minister of Penang, Lim Guan Eng,” said Saifuddin today.
He also dismissed Rafizi’s claims that he was jobless in 2013 after losing the race for the Kulim-Bandar Baharu seat in the general election that year. Saifuddin won the seat in the 2018 polls.
“I am (also) not sure what working paper Rafizi is referring to that gave me a position in Penang.
From what I remember most, he never had a good relationship with Lim, let alone could propose my appointment as an adviser to the Penang government,” Saifuddin said in a statement.
Saifuddin added that the position of secretary-general was offered to him by then PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail because Rafizi was preoccupied with court cases, and needed time and space to fight his legal battles.
He said that he was compelled to correct such misperceptions now, ahead of the party’s upcoming election where he is pitted against Rafizi.
Yesterday, Rafizi, who is now PKR vice-president, had spoken at length on the campaign trail in Penang of his sacrifices. He claimed that he had helped Saifuddin who allegedly informed him that he had been “jobless” after being defeated in the 2013 election.
Rafizi claimed that he made way for Saifuddin to become secretary-general and had come up with a working paper for the Penang government to appoint the latter as a strategic adviser. – The Vibes, April 24, 2022
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