KUALA LUMPUR, March 24 — As the sex video scandal continues to gain traction, another PKR member disclosed today he was asked by “Datuk T” to convince Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and his wife to quit politics.
Former PKR supreme council member, Badrul Hisham Shaharin, said he had watched the video twice at the luxury Shangri-La hotel here last Monday and was asked to deliver a message to Anwar’s wife and PKR president, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail to quit politics.
“The purpose I was called was so I could get a copy of the video and show it to Kak Wan and urge her and the PKR de facto head to quit politics,” he told a news conference here today.
Several PAS leaders had also been forewarned by a group claiming links to Umno about a “surprise” that would affect Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s public image, about a month before a video emerged which allegedly shows the opposition leader having sex with an unidentified woman.
PAS sources told The Malaysian Insider that the group wanted leaders from the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) party to help convince Anwar to quit mainstream politics.
The sources would not say if the group was linked to the three men collectively known as “Datuk T”, who were unmasked yesterday as the ones behind the video.
Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Tamby Chik admitted yesterday that businessman Datuk Shazryl Eskay, Perkasa’s Datuk Shuib Lazim and himself were collectively the mysterious “Datuk T” behind Monday’s screening of a sex video allegedly featuring Anwar.
The former Malacca chief minister also admitted that both he and Shazryl were behind the video.
He told reporters at a joint press conference together with Shazryl that the trio had chosen to step forward on their own accord because they wanted to show that “a person with high ambitions of wanting to be national leader and prime minister of Malaysia ... was not qualified.”
Abdul Rahim and Shazryl both denied the video was doctored.
It is believed that the sex video was the “surprise” referred to by the group that approached PAS leaders a month ago.
“Their request was simple. They claimed they represented Umno-BN, and they only asked for Datuk Seri Anwar not to be active in Pakatan Rakyat, meaning they don’t want him in mainstream politics,” a source told The Malaysian Insider.
“They do not care if Pakatan is headed by someone else, as long as it is not Datuk Seri Anwar; that was their request.”
The source added that the anonymous group did not provide proof to show they really were from Umno and BN as claimed.
According to the source, the request was made about a month ago and that they had alleged “there will be a surprise” shortly related to the PKR de facto chief’s public image.
PAS leaders are said to have refused to entertain the request to pass the “message” to Anwar, even though it is generally known that the Islamist party is divided over Anwar’s role in PR.
“PAS leaders have taken a stern stand not to do so,” said the source.
Anwar, who turns 64 in August, was freed from jail in 2004 and is seen as the glue that binds the PKR-PAS-DAP pact.
He had played a key role in forming a viable opposition coalition in the run-up to the landmark 2008 general election when the three main opposition parties denied BN its traditional two-thirds control of Parliament.
The fledgling three-party coalition also won control over four other states — Kedah, Penang, Perak and Selangor — in addition to maintaining Kelantan in the 12th General Election.
PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang had slammed the video which showed a man resembling a senior Malay opposition leader engaged in sex with a woman said to be prostitute.
Abdul Hadi had called it a dirty political move coming ahead of the Sarawak state elections.
A former deputy prime minister from 1993 to 1998, Anwar filed a police report denying he was the man recorded.
The father of six who is standing trial for sodomy with a former male aide has accused Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein of being involved in the video-recording, which Anwar said was an attack on him and PR.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.