COMMENT Former PKR hothead Zulkifli Noordin may be unhappy with his sacking, but to his party and coalition mates, his departure was one of the most satisfying examples of "good riddance to bad rubbish!".

"He is no loss at all to Pakatan Rakyat or to the PKR," PAS vice-president Salahuddin Ayub told Harakahdaily.

"We've had enough of his play-acting and using Islam and the Malay race as excuses for his politicking. No Malaysian, whatever the ethnic group, could ever benefit from this type of leadership."

Indeed, the all-round sigh of relief is unmistakable. With the exception of arch rival Umno, which is still trying to profit from Zul's disciplinary action, voters and Pakatan supporters are glad he is gone.

Since Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim gave him the chance to represent PKR in the 2008 general election, Zul has been nothing but trouble.

Met his match in Khalid

The Syariah lawyer has insisted on being a maverick, a rebel without a cause unnecessarily aiming verbal blows at coalition colleagues – especially from the DAP - and mainly over religious and racial issues of his own stirring.

But early this year, he met his match when he came head on against PAS MP for Shah Alam Khalid Samad over the 'Allah' issue.

When Zul went overboard accusing Anwar of forgetting his Malay roots and began harping on PAS for 'betraying' its Islamic principles, Khalid took him to task.

Enraged by the public ticking-off, Zul lodged a police report against Khalid, urging the authorities to probe the latter under the Sedition Act, a set of laws that Pakatan leaders are trying hard to get the government to abolish.

The shocking vengefulness of his actions forced Anwar to finally send him off to the PKR disciplinary board. But as usual, Zul was unrepentant and continued trying to score political points against his mentor and party.

And he began in style. Wooed by the Umno-BN press, Zul held court with exclusive interviews with almost all major dailies - turning and twisting the knife deep into his Pakatan colleagues.

For more than a month, he made life hell for them while he basked in the glory of what he and his 'new masters' may have calculated was the best way for him to defect and yet at the same time pin the blame on Pakatan.

PKR was infiltrated

Spin masters from the Umno-BN are now trying to paint Zul as a saint, who was bullied and victimised by the Pakatan's multi-racial elements.

A whispering campaign has begun that leftist liberals in PKR have taken control of Anwar. They also accuse him of being too weak to say 'No' to the 'communist-minded' DAP, whilst 'political vultures' in PAS had played him out and were now waiting to gather the spoils.

But the simple fact of the matter is that PKR was infiltrated by Umno elements. And Anwar chose to clean up PKR ahead of direct elections due by November.

Even though the unmasking of former secretary-general Selehuddin Hashim as part of a group of Umno 'moles' and 'sleepers' has riled the party, it has not stopped Anwar from forging ahead with crucial reforms at his own backyard.

In recent days, Salehuddin has emerged as the ringleader behind the decision of three PKR MPs to quit and become Independents friendly to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

The dark forces trolling in PKR have also been spinning a multitude of theories about the emergence of a "third force" in Parliament. Yet, few doubt that when the crunch comes, these so-called Independents forming the "third force" would support Najib and his wife Rosmah Mansor.

"No one can hold us to ransom. No one should give us ultimatums. If you want to stay, you support the principles of Pakatan. If you do not support, you leave," Anwar told a rally after Zul's sacking was announced.

Let the people choose again

Meanwhile, Zul has stepped up efforts to portray himself as a pious man and a defender of the Islamic faith. He has been zipping around town on a humble Modenas motor-bike and is hamming it up to the hilt.

"I would be ashamed in front of Allah and the Muslim community to continue with PKR. This is also the beginning of the destruction of PKR," was his defiant response to his sacking.

Although Zul has 14 days to appeal his sacking, he has already announced that based on principles he will not do so.

"PKR has also asked Zulkifli to vacate his seat so that the people of Kulim- Bandar Baru can reassess if they still want him to serve them. If he is confident of himself and his principles, he should do so immediately," PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution told Harakahdaily.

But Zulkifli - the bespectacled, goateed and skullcap-donned politician who has become an icon for trouble-making and contrariness – has also turned down this request.— Harakahdaily