Perak PKR now fears defection as the 2 state excos have gone ‘missing' - Malaysiakini

Perak PKR has confirmed that two of its excos have gone missing for four days and they believe that the Deputy Prime Minister has a hand in it.

State PKR chief Osman Abdul Rahman claimed that Datuk Najib Tun Razak, who is Umno deputy president, is enticing the two Pakatan Rakyat excos to defect to Umno.

He said family members and the party have not been able to track down Jamaluddin Mat Radzi, who is the Behrang assemblyman, and Osman Jailu, who is the Changkat Jering assemblyman.

"...there are efforts by Barisan Nasional to persuade the duo to join them in exchange for a desperate reward on offer by Najib, including dropping corruption charges against them," he claimed. (Same claim here...by RPK)

Jamaluddin, 52, and Osman, 57, are facing corruption charges and their trial is scheduled to begin Feb 10.

It has been rumoured that both of them will quit PKR to join Umno. And they have not publicly denied this.

But Menteri Besar Mohamad Nizar Jamaludin at a press conference in Ipoh on Friday dismissed the talk as rumours.

Nizar, who is from PAS, also denied that the Pakatan Rakyat state government had 'lost contact' with them, saying that they had taken advantage of the festival break for a holiday.

Pakatan Rakyat currently holds 32 state seats against Barisan’s 27 in the 59-seat State Assembly.

Here’s the report from Malaysiakini.

2 Perak excos 'missing', PKR fears defection

Perak PKR has accused Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak of attempting to entice two state executive councillors (exco), who have been missing for four days, to defect.

"We believe that there are efforts by Barisan Nasional to persuade the duo to join them in exchange for a desperate reward on offer by Najib, including dropping corruption charges against them," said Perak PKR chief Osman Abdul Rahman.

Over the past few days, rumours that two Perak exco members - Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi and Mohd Osman Mohd Jailu - are quitting PKR have been
rife. The duo have not publicly denied this.

The rumours surfaced immediately after Bota assemblyperson Nasarudin Hashim left Umno for PKR last Sunday.

Najib took over as Perak Umno chief after Tajol Rosli Ghazali stepped down to take responsibility for the defection.

Jamaluddin and Mohd Osman are both facing corruption charges and their trial is scheduled to begin Feb 10.

The duo and three others were charged last year for corruption in relations to a RM180 million housing project spanning 36 hectares in Sri Iskandar, some 30-minutes south of Ipoh.

Jamaluddin is charge of state government’s entrepreneur development, cooperatives, agriculture and trade portfolios, while Mohd Osman is charge of tourism, human capital development and non-government organisations.

'Don't be trapped by Umno'

In a faxed statement today, Osman said family members of the duo and party members have been unable to contact them for four days.

"We believe that their disappearance is closely linked to the corruption charges they are facing. Since the beginning, we have been confident that the allegations against them are false and cooked up by Umno and Barisan Nasional as political blackmail," he said.

"However, we hope that the two leaders are safe and steadfast in the party (PKR) struggle, and will not be trapped by Umno-BN who purportedly want to include them in their fight to protect the Malays," he added.