“I recognise the existence of these weaknesses,” the former Batu MP told FMT today.
“As a party, we must tackle them without fear or favor. As a reformist party, we should not be shy in admitting problems and mistakes.
“What really counts is that we must not be afraid to change for the better when problems are found,” Tian Chua, whose real name is Chua Tian Chang, said when asked to respond to a series of tweets by Ambiga.
The Julau PKR branch membership was reported to have surged from 603 on June 26 to a staggering 13,000 one day later.
Top party leaders have been accused of not dealing with the matter by merely passing the buck.
Ambiga, the National Human Rights Society (Hakam) president, earlier expressed her disappointment over party elections in Julau.
“PKR should not assume for one minute that the majority of Malaysians cannot see what’s going on in their elections.
“After all, they saw through the shenanigans of the last government and threw them out!
“A 13,000 increase in members in one day? Really?” Ambiga, the former chairman of electoral reforms group Bersih 2.0, tweeted.
“PKR will soon lose the moral high ground to call itself a reformist. At the very least, they need to believe in clean and fair elections to be reformists.”
Meanwhile, Petaling Jaya MP Maria Chin Abdullah said the fiasco over the Julau membership surge was a cause for “grave concern” in keeping the party true to its reformasi agenda.
“The PKR leadership must quickly restore its integrity and take action against wrongdoers.
“Any party leader who defends or justifies these wrongdoings will lose the credibility and trust of the rakyat,” the former Bersih 2.0 chairman told FMT.
On Saturday, the PKR central election committee suspended the results from Julau division after the tablets used for e-voting that day were found to have been compromised with the Prey anti-theft software.
Two Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission reports have since been lodged over the tremendous increase in PKR members in Julau, the alleged hacking of tablets used in its e-voting, and purported vote-buying.
Sarawak PKR information chief Vernon Kedit had last month lodged a report with the MACC, urging the agency to probe possible dubious registration of Julau PKR members.
This followed a statutory declaration by Kedit on the 13,000 membership spike.
Sarawak PKR secretary Nicholas Bawin previously said they were left with no choice but to bring the matter to the attention of MACC as their grouses were ignored by the party.
This comes after PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said membership lists had been finalised and complaints had exceeded the time period for objections.
He instead passed the matter to PKR vice-president Xavier Jayakumar, who told FMT “the matter had not come to his table”.