'Najib offered Anwar DPM post after GE13'
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was offered the deputy prime minister's post in the BN government after he won 52 percent of popular vote at the 2013 national polls, alleged his eldest daughter Nurul Izzah.
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was offered the deputy prime minister's post in the BN government after he won 52 percent of popular vote at the 2013 national polls, alleged his eldest daughter Nurul Izzah.
She said it was Prime Minister Najib Razak who offered her dad the post, on condition that he agreed to “ignore” his friends in Pakatan Rakyat.
“Ignore PAS, ignore DAP, accept the DPM’s post, and let’s form the government…let us be happy together, Najib had told Anwar,” said Izzah ( right ), at a ceramah dubbed ‘The Freedom of the People’ in Seberang Jaya last night.
“What was Anwar’s decision? He totally rejected the offer, because in life or death, we can only work in a coalition if it is based on principles, which cannot be bought or sold,” she explained.
Anwar, who previously held the DPM’s post under BN, was sacked by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 1998. He was jailed for abuse of power related to a sodomy charge from 1999 to 2004.
Addressing more than 1,000 supporters at the Tapak Expo, Izzah said Najib was then “willing to discuss” the matter and spoke of reconciliation efforts with the opposition coalition.
Around June 2013, during a trip to Jakarta, Najib confirmed he was committed to reconciliation efforts but denied inking any deal with Anwar as other Umno leaders' approval had to be obtained first.
Indonesia's president as mediator
Najib had reportedly told Jakarta-based Tempo magazine that Anwar had asked former Indonesian president Jusuf Kalla to be the mediator for the duo.
He also denied signing the pact as Anwar had failed to accept the GE13 results, which saw BN retaining Putrajaya with a lower majority and without a popular vote.
Having failed to seize Putrajaya, Anwar had accused the BN government of election fraud, insisting that Pakatan had won in the polls.
Izzah said Pakatan had preferred to address issues of corruption, education, economy and abuse of the people’s money by the government before any reconciliation effort could be made but Najib refused to listen.
“Instead we hear about the 1Malaysian Development Berhad scandal, the six percent Goods And Services Tax - to be implemented this April - that would further burden the people, and the many arrests under the Sedition Act, which Najib himself said he would abolish,” she added.
The reconciliation efforts not only failed but Najib’s administration has also resolved to erase all references and history related to Anwar from universities and banks, Izzah alleged.
“Because all they want to talk about when it comes to him is sodomy, sodomy, sodomy,” she said angrily.
Speakers at the three-hour ceramah last night included several Penang executive councillors, DAP and PKR state heavyweights and PAS deputy chief Mohamed Sabu ( left ).
Penang Chief Minister and DAP secretary general Lim Guan Eng and PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail spoke after Izzah left the session to return to Kuala Lumpur last night.
Azizah also launched the campaign to ‘send a postcard to Anwar in prison’, while the Permatang Pauh audience was shown videoclips of Anwar in the Federal Court in Putrajaya on Tuesday.
The Federal Court's verdict which sent Anwar to prison for sodomy has been strongly criticised by foreign governments and the international community as being "politically motivated".
But the Prime Minister’s Office insisted that the courts were independent and that the accusation of sodomy was brought on by a private individual and not by the government.
Anwar's family has started the "March to Freedom Campaign" led by Anwar's daughter Nurul Nuha, while Pakatan Penang has organised two gatherings to honour Anwar.
On Monday, another session will be held at the Han Chiang College University grounds at 8pm, while nightly vigil are held outside the Sungai Buloh prison to show solidarity with Anwar.
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