Perak Menteri Besar Zambry Abd Kadir claimed that the DAP-PKR-PAS pact in Perak once made overtures for him to join them and was promised the post of MB in the wake of the March 2008 general election.

Winding-up the motion of thanks at the Perak state assembly sitting today, Zambry said he was among three Umno state assemblypersons who were asked to defect to form a unity government, as claimed by former MB Mohd Tojol Rosli Mohd Ghazali (Umno-Pengkalan Hulu).

"I want to say that they came and 'proposed' to me. They really 'proposed'," said Zambry, who raised this topic midway through his speech.

According to Zambry, the overtures came before the three-party pact, now known as Pakatan Rakyat, had decided on nominating Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin as the menteri besar.

"When the (BN) government (was voted out), the first person who was 'proposed' (to be MB) was Zambry, not Nizar. Their Number 1 leader telephoned me, and talked about the past," he added, in a very serious tone.

At this point, Tajol Rosli interjected and demanded further elaboration. He wanted to know whether the "Number 1 leader" was the party "president" or the "adviser".

Hinted it was Anwar who called

Zambry however did not give a direct answer, though his reference to "talking about the past" was an indirect insinuation that he was talking about his old friend, Anwar Ibrahim, who is PKR de facto leader.

NONE "He is a big-time leader. A great leader, apparently. At the time, I was not only proposed, but they also sent the rombongan meminang (delegation seeking a girl's hand in marriage) along with the hantaran (dowry) to my house.

"I turned down one of the gifts but two managed to slip into my home. I want to raise this issue here because they (Pakatan) always talk about democracy, morals and transparency in politics," said Zambry.

He said those who had tried to "woo" him were hypocrites.

"Don't think that I'm in politics just to be menteri besar. I am not willing to sacrifice my principles, but thanks for the lamaran (offer)," he said.

After Zambry's speech, speaker R Ganesan adjourned the sitting sine die .