Malaysia’s Anwar denies ‘compromise’ in talks with Najib’s Umno
- Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has sparked concern among supporters who fear he plans a tie up between his PKR party and its former nemesis
- He avoids saying whether he has spoken to former leader Najib Razak, but says claims the PKR has reneged on its promises are ‘incorrect’
Anwar’s supporters have reacted with consternation after the 73-year-old said in a weekend interview that his Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and Najib’s United Malays National Organisation (Umno) shared fundamental goals.
Those comments stood in sharp contrast to PKR’s long-standing position that its raison d’être was “reformasi”, or national reform to uproot endemic corruption and cronyism brought about during Umno’s decades-long rule of the country.
Anwar’s comments to Mingguan Malaysia, a newspaper aligned with Umno, were read by local observers as an indication that he was now ready to work with the likes of Najib.
Najib, 67, was prime minister when Anwar was imprisoned in 2015 for the second time on a sodomy conviction many see as being politically motivated.
Speaking at a press conference, Anwar said while discussions with Umno had indeed taken place, there was no “formal understanding” about cooperation.
“There has been, of course, a lot of response and reaction suggesting that there has been some sort of agreement [and that] we are now compromising on certain principles and reneging on our earlier promises, which to my mind is incorrect,” Anwar told reporters. “We are not going to compromise on the principles, the values, the policies that we have adopted thus far.”
Asked specifically whether he had held talks with Najib, who is currently out on bail pending an appeal against a 12-year jail term for corruption, Anwar demurred, saying he would hold talks with anyone.
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In recent weeks, three PKR MPs have quit the party.
Among them was Xavier Jayakumar, one of the party’s founding members. Jeyakumar said he quit the party out of frustration with internal developments. But insiders suggested his exit had to do with anti-corruption investigations launched against a former aide.
Anwar referenced Jayakumar’s case in his remarks on Tuesday and said there had been multiple complaints among MPs in his camp that they were being intimidated into joining Muhyiddin’s Perikatan Nasional alliance.
“This has stop … We want the [Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission] to be an effective agency to combat corruption, but not to be used as a political weapon to intimidate political opposition,” Anwar said.
Anwar and other critics have dismissed that explanation, arguing instead that the prime minister declared the emergency to forestall efforts to unseat him through a vote of no confidence.
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Politics in the country has been in a precarious state since Muhyiddin in March last year staged an internal coup within the then-ruling Pakatan Harapan alliance and subsequently gained power under a new bloc that included Umno.
Muhyiddin’s self-coup – in the midst of the pandemic – has led to a multidimensional power struggle among the country’s Malay ruling elite, and observers say the upcoming polls could once again upend traditional alliances.
Umno – seen as the country’s grand old party and which remains its biggest political organisation by membership – is split over whether it should back Anwar or Muhyiddin in the forthcoming polls.
