Khairuddin has resigned and will now serve as an independent MP in Parliament

Malaysia – Datuk Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali, Member of Parliament for Kuala Nerus, has resigned from the Islamist party PAS, effective on March 14.

At 2.30pm in Parliament, Khairuddin, who was recently removed in the position of PAS Syura Ulama Council secretary, handed in his letter of resignation to PAS secretary-general Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan.

He said that he would now serve in the Dewan Rakyat as an independent MP.

“I’d want to express my gratitude to PAS for welcoming me into the party when I was only 16 years old in 1999.”

“When I returned from Jordan, I had numerous leadership posts in PAS, the most recent of which was the PAS Syura Ulama Council secretary,” he stated during a news briefing in Parliament.

He also expressed gratitude to PAS for allowing him to run in two general elections before becoming the Kuala Nerus MP in 2013.

Khairuddin has been in the limelight multiple times in the last two years, when Seputeh MP Teresa Kok questioned why the then-minister had not been subjected to the necessary 14-day home quarantine after returning from an official trip to Turkey in July 2020.

During the quarantine time, he also attended a Dewan Rakyat session, for which he was fined RM1,000 and issued a public apology following public outrage.

Khairuddin was removed from PAS’ core working committee on January 14, less than two months after being assigned to the position.

The decision to remove the 48-year-old Kuala Nerus MP was decided at a party meeting held at the party’s headquarters, according to PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang, who did not explain the cause for his dismissal.

Despite losing in the internal election, the Kuala Nerus MP was one of three PAS leaders reappointed to the party central committee for the 2021-2023 term in November.

Hadi instead told reporters that PAS members who break the party’s rules “may be changed, employed elsewhere, have his membership suspended or dismissed.”

A month later, on February 11, Khairuddin was fired from his position as secretary of the PAS Syura Ulama Council.

Khairuddin served in Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s ministry as the minister of industries, plantations, and commodities.