SEREMBAN: Outgoing Ampangan assemblyman Datuk Dr Mohamad Rafie Ab Malek will be sacked from PKR after he decided to defend the seat as an Independent.
Datuk Seri Aminuddin Harun, who is also a PKR vice-president, said Mohamad Rafie’s sacking was automatic once he filed his nomination papers yesterday.
The former state investment, industrialisation, education and entrepreneurship committee chairman was not picked by the party to defend the seat.
Aminuddin, the caretaker mentri besar, however, acknowledged it was Mohamad Rafie’s right to contest as an Independent.
He added that action would also be taken against PKR members who supported Mohamad Rafie. However, he was optimistic the Pakatan Harapan-Barisan Nasional pact would retain the seat.
“We will leave it to the voters to decide who they want,” he said, adding that the decision not to field Mohamad Rafie was made by the party leadership.
Mohamad Rafie, when met after filing his papers, said party president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had asked him to back the party’s candidate for Ampangan as Aminuddin had not supported his candidacy.
“I told him that he is the party president and also the Prime Minister. He need not listen to Aminuddin and Rafizi Ramli who have been playing politics to bring me down,” he said.
Mohamad Rafie, who claimed to be a founding member of the party, said he could also serve the people as an Independent as he was not a “Yang Berhormat” but a “Yang Bekerja”. He said his constituents have urged him to contest the seat.
“I may now be in a small boat facing rough seas but I will soldier on for the people,” he said.
