KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 12 — The PKR disciplinary board has rejected a request from party vice-president Zuraida Kamaruddin to postpone a hearing against her on February 20.

Online portal Malaysiakini reported that the board’s chairman Datuk Ahmad Kasim remains firm that Zuraida must show up for the hearing on February 20 and it has already taken into consideration her duties as housing and local government minister.

Ahmad reportedly said that Zuraida had requested a suspension of the hearing due to the legal notices issued to her by PKR secretary-general Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail and party president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s political secretary’s Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak.

"This is supposedly because the legal notices have the same content as the show-cause letter issued by the disciplinary board,” he reportedly said.

Ahmad pointed out that the two processes are clearly different. There are three disciplinary charges against the minister and only one civil suit.

He claimed that the last disciplinary board meeting already made note of the issue but took the stand that these cases are not criminal in nature but rather civil, and therefore, the hearing, slated for next Thursday, will go on.

Last week, Zuraida had also sought leave from her position as party vice-president from Anwar until the disciplinary board had decided her case.

She was given a show-cause letter on January 18 due to several issues, including her speech on December 8 where she alleged that the party president had tried to convince her that the sex video allegedly involving his deputy Datuk Seri Azmin Ali was real.

She had made the remarks at a dinner organised by Azmin’s faction after she and other Azmin supporters had staged a walkout during PKR’s national congress which saw violent altercations between both camps.