PETALING JAYA: Kita has sacked its state chiefs in Penang and Kedah for making statements considered detrimental to the party.

The decision was made by the party's disciplinary committee on Monday, shocking Penang chief Tan Tee Beng and his Kedah counterpart Zamil Ibrahim.

The committee gave them 14 days to appeal to the central executive committee.

Disciplinary committee chairman Wan Hasemah @ Wan Norjam Wan Sulaiman said Tan and Zamil were sacked for “continuous gross violations of the party discipline.”

Their expulsion followed the sacking of two other leaders as well as another two who were told to “quietly step down” and another who was removed from the central executive committee.

Kita, or Parti Kesejahteraan Insan Tanah Air, was rocked by the sudden announcement two weeks ago by party leader Datuk Zaid Ibrahim that he was going to dissolve the party and support Pakatan Rakyat.

Tan and Zamil had expressed their disappointment over Zaid's decision and accused him of acting in self-interest.

They had reportedly urged Zaid to leave the party and allow others to lead Kita.

Tan and Zamil expressed shock over their sacking yesterday, claiming that the disciplinary committee had not informed them of the decision.

Tan is baffled because he had not received any show-cause letter or warning to “tone down” when he expressed concern over the recent developments in the party.

“I am going to lodge a complaint with the ROS (Registrar of Society) as the party did not follow procedure in sacking a member,'' he said, alleging that it was a case of abuse of power.

Tan said it was strange that certain quarters are resorting to sacking leaders at a time when they are also planning to dissolve the party.

“It makes us wonder if this is a constructive effort to get rid of leaders who are against the proposal to dissolve the party,'' he said.

Zamil refused to accept his sacking, saying the disciplinary committee's decision was unwarranted.

He had only received a show-cause letter for attacking PKR advisor Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on Jan 6 over the Free Anwar 901 campaign.

“If attacking Anwar is regarded a breach of party discipline, how come no action was taken against Zaid when he implied Anwar was the man in a sex video exposed last year?

“Anyway, I have answered that show-cause letter,'' said Zamil.

Kita secretary Masrum Dayat said he had sent Tan a show-cause letter via ordinary post on Friday.

“In that letter we asked him to face the disciplinary board in Kelantan on Monday,'' he said.

When pointed out there was no postal service from Saturday to Tuesday in view of public holidays, Masrum insisted he had posted the letter.

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