Kuala Nerus MP Khairuddin Aman Razali today announced that he had submitted his letter of resignation as a member of PAS to the party’s secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan.

At a press conference in Parliament, he said his letter had been sent in line with the PAS constitution.

“According to the PAS constitution, Article 15(1)(a), members hand in their resignation themselves.

“Thus I, Khairuddin Aman Razali, membership number 313899, request to be dropped as a PAS member,” he said.

He also voiced his appreciation to the party for giving him the opportunity to represent it in elections twice.

On Jan 14, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang confirmed that Khairuddin had been sacked as a central committee member.

While he did not give the reason for this, he referred to discipline issues within the party.

“In our party we have discipline,” he was quoted as saying to reporters in Marang. “Those who don’t adhere can have their positions changed, be assigned somewhere else, or have their membership suspended or be sacked.”

When asked about his reason for leaving PAS, Khairuddin said it was a difficult question to answer.

He said he still agreed with the policies championed by PAS, but no longer from within the party organisation.

“I am still with PAS, but not as a member of the organisation,” he said.

“For now, I will be an independent.”

Khairuddin was previously said to belong to a small faction of PAS leaders who wanted the party to continue cooperating with Umno.

PAS is part of Perikatan Nasional, the coalition led by Bersatu chief Muhyiddin Yassin.

An audio clip of a conversation said to feature Khairuddin criticising Hadi’s decision to leave Umno had gone viral at one point.

Khairuddin served as plantation industries and commodities minister in Muhyiddin’s cabinet, but was dropped by Ismail Sabri Yaakob when he took over last August.