Rafizi said the former Damansara MP’s attack reflected a factional split within DAP, Malaysiakini reported.
He said the minority faction that Pua belongs to hopes to see the coalition government collapse, while the majority led by DAP secretary-general Loke Siew Fook wants to keep the Pakatan Harapan-led administration intact.
“That is why their reactions are the opposite of each other. They should not only be read explicitly but also in what is implied,” said the former PKR deputy president in the “Explain Sikit” podcast aired this evening.
Pua previously said that while Rafizi and Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad have the right to chart their own paths, other MPs intending to contest the next general election under another party’s ticket, despite being elected as PKR members, should vacate their seats now.
“Others who actually have the gall to express their intent to stand against their own party in GE16 but do not want to vacate their seats are just (cowardly) self-serving chickens who can’t bear to lose the remaining months of their MP allowance.
“They should be dumped (by voters) regardless of which party they ultimately stand for in the coming elections. In fact, their voters should immediately petition for them to resign from their seats,” he said in a Facebook post.
Rafizi noted Loke’s previous remarks that he and Nik Nazmi should have waited until the end of their term as MPs before joining a new movement, in contrast to Pua’s tirade against those who refused to follow the duo’s footsteps in vacating their seats.
“What happened here is actually a spillover from the factional fight in DAP. Please leave us out of it,” he said.
On May 17, Rafizi and Nik Nazmi announced that they would take over Bersama to chart a new political direction for themselves and their supporters.
They also announced their resignations as MPs for Pandan and Setiawangsa, respectively, and from PKR.
Rafizi said that while he and Nik Nazmi decided to vacate their seats out of respect for the democratic process, as they were elected under the PKR banner, they also wanted to maintain the stability of the current government.
He said if all the MPs aligned with him resigned from PKR and vacated their seats, it could risk the formation of a backdoor government.