Anwar says Najib praised KL112 to save his reputation

Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak was forced to praise the organisation of the Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat (KL112)  rally over the weekend to save face for his ruling coalition which will face the 13th general election soon.

Anwar, when met after a Kuala Lumpur High Court hearing today, also questioned the sincerity of Najib’s reforms as claimed by the prime minister.

He also said Najib may have been forced to say what he had said yesterday.

"If he (Najib) is honest and persistent (with the reforms) why is it his (government-backed) media continue to attack us (the opposition)?

"His media is always against us even with the (state-owned) Radio Television Malaysia is calling the gathering ‘perhimpunan haram’ (unlawful assembly). 

"Even (privately-owned) TV3 gave that insinuation (with their reports)," he said.

Calling Najib a flip-flop politician, Anwar said Najib may have been forced to admit the opposition’s success in organising the peaceful rally due to the large crowd.

“Najib is forced to say it as the facts and evidence over the presence of a large crowd truly surprised him,” said the Permatang Pauh MP.

Yesterday, Najib at the launching of a law conference had praised the Pakatan Rakyat-organised rally which he believes is an example of his BN led coalition’s political and government reforms.

"I say thank you to the opposition, though I don’t agree with them, for respecting the spirit of the Peaceful Assembly Act,” Najib said.

"What happened shows that our islah or reforms that we do, are spot on," the PM said, adding that the authorities also conducted a good job to make the event incident-free.

The rally conducted over the weekend saw more than 100,000 people flooding the iconic and historical Merdeka Stadium and its vicinity.

During the event, the organising chairperson Mohamad Sabu denied mainstream media reports that the crowd were paid RM150 to come, and instead the PAS deputy president urged them to donate to the opposition cause.