Not a priority but up to them
Published on: Tuesday, September 25, 2018
Kota Kinabalu: Incoming PKR President Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (pic) said it is up to Umno elected representatives to meet him if they want, although he does not see it as a priority for him right now as he is more focused on his Port Dickson by-election and party elections. "Of course if they want to we can discuss but our priority now is to work on our agenda," said the man next in line to be Prime Minister when Tun Dr Mahathir vacates the post in two years under the terms of an agreement that the latter's Parti Pribumi had worked out with his Parti Keadilan following their then opposition coalition's astounding victory in the May 9 general election. He was asked whether any Umno members, particularly from Sabah, had met him to discuss joining Pakatan Harapan. There have been talk that Sabah Umno members are looking at joining the government side through these two avenues. Sabah Umno has six MPs and 10 assemblymen who have yet to indicate their future political allegiance.
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One of the Sabah Umno MPs, Datuk Seri Anifah, quit the party last week and spoke of PH's commitment to restore Sabah's and Sarawak's MA63 status as being the turning point. Dr Mahathir had initially said that Umno members were not welcome to join PPBM, but admitted lately that several Umno politicians had seen him, adding in jest that these same people would anyway also likely be seeing PAS. "There is no issue that I cannot meet any person. I can meet anybody casually but there was never a serious discussion as far as I am concerned, either to join Keadilan or Pakatan Harapan," he told Daily Express in an exclusive interview. There had been speculation that recent Umno resignations and 20 more likely to follow was after they met with Council of Eminent Persons (CEP) Chairman Tun Daim Zainuddin, who is close to Dr Mahathir. Anwar had brushed aside talk that they may be keen on joining Parti Pribumi, which would strengthen the latter's presence in Parliament. However, Anwar said he did not see their meeting Daim as an issue.
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There had also been talk in social media that PKR may split into two camps, one aligning with Umno to form Barisan Harapan Malaysia supposedly to be headed by Anwar and the other with Pakatan Harapan which is headed by Dr Mahathir. Asked to comment on the anxiety that many Malaysians still have on what sort of PM he would be, such as being vengeful, bitter or angry in view of having been robbed of 20 years of his prime political life, he said:
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"For 20 years I have suffered. I have forgiven them for everything. What more do they want to do? I want to ask them if they are in my position what would they do. To me its simple, a struggle of one man." He said it was not his choice and that there was consensus on the decision for granting an immediate Royal pardon over his imprisonment. On the current debate over whether it was proper for him to seek to enter parliament by causing a bypoll in the Port Dickson constituency, he said: "If its not PD but Alor Star, they will ask why Alor Star. If Permatang Pauh, they will ask why Permatang Pauh. There will always be this questioning," he said, adding what is of more serious concern to him is to say that he is too Malay or too Islam."They are free to find a non-Malay or anti-Islam element if they want. "Besides, I'm not entering the Government as agreed. I'm entering parliament and probably they are not aware or may be suffering from selective amnesia." He said even though his critics can say what they like, he also finds some of the things in social media to be very unethical and extending too far. Asked how he felt about the amazing turn of events where he was denied voting rights before the May 9 election because he was in prison and him having to apply to the High Court and then the Appeal court – only to now end up as the front runner for the PM job post-GE14, he said: "I have, for one, consistently said that God is Great and second, the wisdom of the masses. I thank God and appreciate the fact that the people are wise." Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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