KUALA LUMPUR, March 27 — Umno leaders have denied that they have been training their guns on Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and trying to end his political career in the light of a video allegedly of the PKR de facto leader having sex with an unidentified woman.
Anwar, the 63-year old political veteran, has charged that top Umno leaders which included Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and several old political foes have orchestrated a ploy using the video to end his politcal career.
“First of all, I want to rationalise the issue, Anwar has natural enemies within and outside of PKR or PR. The public has to understand there are people that have adverse feelings against Anwar.
“The attacks are not sanctioned by Umno and we have got over three million members and it is impossible to control and orchestrate,” Umno supreme council member Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan told The Malaysian Insider.
He stressed that attacks on Anwar have always been about his policies and that of Pakatan Rakyat (PR) as a coalition, and that Umno would never stoop so slow as to hit below the belt.
“If the pro-Umno blogs or papers are attacking Anwar’s policies then it is fair game and he is the opposition leader.
“He is the opposition leader and we are not talking about any other leader. (If) you are talking about his economic development policies and Buku Jingga then I admit that I am fixated with Anwar,” said Abdul Rahman.
The Kota Belud MP said that the Najib administration was in a good position right now with five by-election wins since 2008 and a good chance of retaining Sarawak in the upcoming state elections.
The video allegedly showing Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim having sex with a Chinese prostitute is being investigated by the police
The video hit media headlines on Monday when a mysterious “Datuk T” invited selected media personnel to Carcosa Seri Negara to view the recording.
Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Tamby Chik and businessman Datuk Shazryl Eskay then revealed that they were “Datuk T” shortly after their identities were unmasked by PKR MP Datuk Johari Abdul.
They also claimed that another man was a part of their team — Datuk Shuib Lazim, Perkasa treasurer and former Umno senator. Another Umno leader, Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed, also denied Najib’s involvement in the scandal, but suggested the culprits were none other than loyalists to former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed.
“It is not Umno, but a person that is behind this obsession with Anwar...Umno is on a high momentum, why should Datuk Seri Najib be doing this? It is Tun Mahathir’s sympathisers doing this without the blessings (of Najib and Umno),” The Pulai MP told The Malaysian Insider.
Pasir Salak MP Datuk Tajuddin Rahman said that Umno had no choice but to “reply” to PR’s attacks against the ruling coalition.
“It is not Umno that is obsessed.
“If it is on Buku Jingga or any of Anwar’s policies then of course Umno has to reply. You people cannot expect the opposition to attack and expect the ruling party to just keep quiet. Is that the right thinking? You are being attacked so you have to attack back,” he told The Malaysian Insider.
Tajuddin blamed Malaysians for “sympathising” too much with Anwar, whom he labelled an “underdog.”
“The problem with you people is that you sympathise with the underdogs. That is the problem. We also sympathise with the poor but the poor can also be crooks.
“We feel sorry for them and invite them to our house and then we get robbed... I am not saying all but I am just giving an example...This is the human psychology, we sympathise with him because he is the Opposition leader,” added the Umno leaders.
But PR lawmakers have charged that Umno may have underestimated a backlash from this latest scandal, of which the opposition have accused the ruling Malay party of being responsible for.
“They still see Anwar, PR as a threat.
“There are fragments in Umno that want to finish Anwar off, they want to go for the kill, but they may have just overdone it...they have underestimated the public backlash against this,” said DAP national youth socialist (Dapsy) chief Anthony Loke.
He told The Malaysian Insider that Umno may just have tossed PR a “golden bone” by trying to discredit Anwar.
Similarly PAS MP Khalid Samad said that Umno’s insecurity with PR’s Buku Jingga policy reforms drive them to resort to extreme measures to attack Anwar, who is seen as the glue which holds the loose pact of PKR-PAS-DAP together.
“They are diverting the attention of Malaysians from being engaged in debating and comparing policies to gutter politics,” said the Shah Alam parliamentarian. - Malaysian Insider
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