The Federal Court has postponed its verdict on Parti Keadilan Rakyat’s (PKR) appeal against the reduced penalty imposed on former lawmaker Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin. The dispute centers on whether the original RM10 million fine—set by PKR, should remain in place or be further lowered from the RM100,000 the Court of Appeal ordered in December 2024.
During Monday’s proceedings, PKR’s lawyer Ranjit Singh defended the High Court’s initial ruling, which required Zuraida to pay RM10 million for breaking her bond. He highlighted her own acknowledgment that the benefits she received from PKR surpassed RM10 million, stressing that the contract’s terms must be enforced as written. Singh framed the case as a straightforward application of Section 75 of the Contracts Act, citing admissions from both sides to support PKR’s position.
The bond was executed before the 2018 general election and obligated Zuraida to pay RM10 million if she resigned, switched parties, or ran independently. PKR’s legal team argued that the RM10 million figure reflected the political climate at the time, when defections threatened coalition stability and could trigger government collapse. The 2020 Sheraton Move, where multiple lawmakers abandoned Pakatan Harapan (PH), was cited as proof of why such bonds were necessary to maintain party discipline.
Zuraida’s legal representative, Tan Sri Azhar Azizan Harun, countered that the bond did not qualify as a standard contractual agreement. He argued that the penalty was not a product of equal negotiation but an imposed condition, given the power imbalance between a political party and its candidate. The Court of Appeal’s reduction to RM100,000, he claimed, better reflected statutory protections against unfair or oppressive terms.
Chief Justice Tun Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh presided over the hearing, which concluded without a ruling. The appeal follows a June 2025 decision granting PKR permission to challenge the Court of Appeal’s earlier judgment, which had upheld Zuraida’s breach but cut the penalty. The lawsuit originated in 2020, when PKR’s secretary-general, Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, filed the case alleging Zuraida had violated the bond by leaving the party.
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