PUTRAJAYA: Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has stood by Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng despite two PKR federal lawmakers quitting the party, citing their unhappiness with him running the state.

Anwar said he was often in discussions and communication with Lim on matters concerning the state and that the chief minister should not be dragged into the spate of resignations in PKR.

"I have no reason to question the personal integrity of YB Lim Guan Eng," he told media representatives when met at the Palace of Justice yesterday.

Anwar, who is Permatang Pauh MP, said PKR elected representatives must understand that it would take time for the Penang government to consider any of their requests based on merit and it was the right of the chief minister to turn down an application that might be detrimental to his administration.

"The same happens here in Selangor. Not everything DAP requests may be granted by (Menteri Besar) Tan Sri (Abdul) Khalid (Ibrahim)," he said, adding that the opposition party cannot repeat the BN's fundamental flaw of corruption and must uphold the principle of good governance and rule of law.

The opposition leader pointed out that the latest resignations enabled PKR to distinguish those who were against the "Pakatan Rakyat (PR) agenda", stressing that PKR would now go through a process of strengthening itself to ensure that matters such as elected representatives abandoning ship would not recur.

"They all use the Malay Card and Islamic Card. But I don't know what (Tan) Tee Beng is going to use," he said when commenting on some of the reasons cited by PKR politicians for quitting the party.

Tan, the Nibong Tebal MP who is facing party disciplinary charges, announced yesterday that he had quit PKR and would be an independent MP. Tan, who has openly criticised Lim, also cited the unavailability of channels to air grievances against PR leaders among the reasons for leaving.

Last month, PKR Bayan Baru MP Datuk Seri Zahrain Mohamed Hashim quit PKR, citing dissatisfaction with Lim's state leadership as one of his reasons.

Last Sunday, former Penang Deputy Chief Minister 1 Mohammad Fairus Khairuddin said he had quit PKR to join Umno while an online news portal reported yesterday that former PKR secretary-general Datuk Salehuddin Hashim had conveyed his intention to quit the party two weeks ago.

Anwar said certain Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders could be behind the resignations as it was acknowledged at PR meetings recently that senior PKR politicians and party stalwarts were courted by politicians from the ruling coalition to jump ship.

He also said the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) should investigate elected representatives who were living "more luxuriously than normal", after abandoning PKR.

Asked if he expected more PKR lawmakers to quit, he replied: "As it stands, that was it." With Tan's resignation, PR has only 80 MPs in the 222-seat Dewan Rakyat while BN has 137, and five are independents.