Malaysian police summon Anwar Ibrahim in probe into viral list of backers for his PM bid

The opposition leader met Malaysia’s king on Tuesday to present him with a list of 121 lawmakers backing his bid for the premiership

Complaints were filed with police after the list went viral on social media, and Anwar was asked to give a statement on Friday

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Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim speaks to the media after meeting the king on October 13 over his claim to have enough parliamentary support to replace the current prime minister. Photo: Reuters

Published: 1:43pm, 15 Oct 2020Updated: 12:59am, 18 Dec 2020

Malaysian police have summoned opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim to assist investigations into a viral list of federal lawmakers allegedly backing his bid to claim the premiership, a senior police official said on Thursday.

The opposition leader on Tuesday met King Al-Sultan Abdullah in a bid to prove he has a “convincing” parliamentary majority to replace Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and form a government.

Anwar was asked to give a statement on Friday over complaints filed with the police about a list of 121 lawmakers said to be backing his bid for the premiership, which had gone viral on social media, criminal investigation department director Huzir Mohamed said in a statement.

“To date, a total of 113 police reports have been received,” Huzir said.

Police did not detail any of the complaints, but Huzir said investigations were guided by provisions under the penal code and a separate multimedia law covering statements that could cause public mischief or harassment.