PKR says Anwar still relevant to Pakatan

By Clara Chooi


KUALA LUMPUR, March 8 — PKR have strenuously refuted Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s claim that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is a “liability” to the opposition, accusing the prime minister today of depending on unreliable sources for information.

Party secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution also denied that there had been requests from PAS grassroots leaders to stop Anwar from campaigning in the recent Kerdau and Merlimau by-elections, charging that Najib’s information had been obtained from “the side of the dustbin”.

“For a prime minister to rely on information obtained by the side of the road, by the side of the dustbin, is extremely disgusting.

“Our campaign strategy was arranged by the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) presidential council even before the by-elections and all party leaders, including DAP’s Lim Kit Siang and PAS (president) Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang reached a consensus,” Saifuddin (picture) told a press conference in Parliament today.

He was responding to a statement by Najib yesterday where the latter claimed to have heard from sources that PAS members were uncomfortable with Anwar’s presence during the polls process.

“I heard that even PAS feels uncomfortable when he turns up during by-elections. There are even some who sent messages to request that he does not attend.

“So this shows that even among themselves they do not share confidence in one another,” Najib said yesterday when asked if he agreed that Anwar was now viewed as a “liability” to PR.

“The PR presidential council decided that all three parties should join in helping PAS in both elections. That is why all our leaders were present.

“When the prime minister chooses to listen to such a non-credible source... imagine, a country led by such a prime minister, one who can rely on such information... disaster will befall us,” said Saifuddin.

The Machang MP added however that he was not surprised with Najib’s claim and said that it was merely part of Barisan Nasional’s (BN) strategy to weaken its opponents in PKR and PR.

He claimed that based on the results of the last three general elections, it was obvious that Anwar was a major contributor to PR’s popularity and successes.

“We reject this notion that Anwar is a liability because if you look at the 1999 election, after Anwar’s sodomy case, the opposition won in only 27 MP seats as Anwar was in jail.

“Then in 2004 when he was still in jail, the performance of the opposition dipped again.

“But in 2008, when he was freed, and went around the country, this led us to win 81 parliamentary seats.

“I am not saying that Anwar is the only factor in our victories but it is a known fact that he is still very relevant and significant to the strength of PKR and other parties in PR (PAS and DAP),” he said.

Saifuddin said BN was likely hoping that by attacking Anwar, it would succeed in weakening PKR, which would later weaken PR.

“This is a common attack by them,” he said.

PR suffered its fourth and fifth by-election losses in a row on Sunday in Merlimau and Kerdau, a major defeat for the coalition which had earlier been basking in continuous victories after emerging from a sterling performance in Election 2008.

BN retained the Merlimau state seat when Umno’s Roslan Ahmad defeated PAS candidate Yuhaizad Abdullah with a majority of 3,643 votes. Roslan obtained 5,962 votes to Yuhaizad’s 2,319.

In Kerdau, BN candidate Syed Ibrahim Syed Ahmad defeated PAS candidate Hasanuddin Salim by a majority of 2,724 votes. Syed Ibrahim obtained 5,060 votes to Hasanuddin’s 2,336.

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