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Zulkifli Bin Noordin

Isni

30 Zul Qaedah 1431

08 nov 2010

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(Artikel di akhbar NST bertarikh 30.11.2010)

ZULKIFLI OUT TO REMEDY MISTAKES

By Shuhada Elis - NST 30 Nov 2010

CIVIL and syariah lawyer Zulkifli Noordin, 48, has to his name a famous line -- I am Muslim first; politician and member of parliament second.

He quit Umno in 1997 over the conversion case of a bank executive Nor Aisyah Bokhari, blaming Umno for its alleged inertia over the case.

Pas embraced him and his roadshows then. A year later, he was declared a Pas member by its spiritual leader, Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, at a Merdeka celebration in Kota Baru.

Last March, he was in trouble over rather similar circumstances.

As an opposition MP, Zulkifli had lodged a police report against Pas MP for Shah Alam Khalid Samad for describing as "outdated" a Selangor enactment that prohibits non-Muslims from using the word "Allah" and other Islamic terms.

"Politics is all about timing," the Kulim-Bandar Baru member of parliament Zulkifli Noordin said in an interview last week.


The New Straits Times had asked him to explain his latest role as a harsh critic of Parti Keadilan Rakyat, which fielded him in the March 2008 general election. Is this some kind of a personal vendetta? Is he being consistent at all?

Zulkifli, a defence lawyer for opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in his first sodomy trial, said his biggest mistake was to have followed Anwar's instructions blindly.

In fact, at the core of his latest crusade, as it turned out, is the nature of his relationship with Anwar. He was for more than a decade a key member of the Anwar inner circle. Zulkifli nurses a distrust of DAP, a key ally of PKR and this has interfered with his relationship with Anwar.

At the height of his association with Anwar -- Zulkifli revealed -- the Reformasi boys were prepared to burn down the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil and a few other places. The plan was only thwarted when Anwar was arrested under the Internal Security Act on Sept 20, 1998.

Zulkifli had met Anwar for the first time 16 days previously and two days after Anwar was sacked from the cabinet.

"It was at his house. Zainur Zakaria had asked me to join the team. Others, including Karpal Singh, were reluctant. I told Anwar that I had never agreed with him but I was joining the team because I believed injustice had been done."

He defended Anwar throughout his six years of imprisonment, until the PKR de facto leader returned to the political scene in 2004.

In the March 2008 general election, Zulkifli was asked to contest the Kulim-Bandar Baru seat on a PKR ticket by Anwar on the strength of his relationship with the PKR de facto leader.

He was never a PKR member and was told that his membership in Pas would be suspended until he completed his parliamentary term.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Zulkifli's relationship with Anwar began to sour last year.

He did not heed Anwar's repeated plea for him to tone down his attacks on DAP.

"Anwar promised that he would iron out everything when he became the prime minister."

The last straw came when Anwar supported the use of the word "Allah" by non-Muslims. "I decided that was the end of everything."

Last week, Zulkifli exposed a "devil's conspiracy" between top leaderships of PKR and DAP. What was this all about?

"I owe it to the public. Certain things are personal but there are others which the public should know. I need to remedy my mistakes."

As for his public image, Zulkifli said his constituents and PKR members were beginning to accept him following their initial hostility.

"I also maintain a good relationship with several PKR leaders except for a few 'Anwarians' or 'little Pharaohs'."