Ku Nan: Mahathir can have Anwar, Umno has the rakyat

Umno is unfazed with the pow-wow between former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and jailed former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.

For even if the once-dynamic duo were to kiss and make up, the Malay party still has its secret weapon, which is the rakyat.

Indeed, Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said, Umno is more concerned with meeting with the rakyat, compared with Anwar and Mahathir's social meet-up.

"They want to meet, they meet. We see the rakyat. Nothing wrong for them to meet, it is their business.

"(Umno) won't be affected," he said curtly when met by reporters after launching a housing project in Kuala Lumpur today.

Tengku Adnan, who is widely referred to as Ku Nan, was commenting on the meeting between the Mahathir and Anwar at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday.

Commenting further, Tengku Adnan said that Umno was not worried about the duo and their possible alliance, as the party was more concerned about the rakyat and serving them.

Mahathir who was premier for 22 years, met with Anwar in the court to express his support of the latter's suit against the National Security Council (NSC) Act 2016.

The meeting was praised as significant not only for what it symbolised for the fledgling alliance between Pakatan Harapan which Anwar spiritually leads, and Mahathir's newly registered Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, but also because this was the first time they had met in 18 years.

In 1998, Mahathir and Anwar had a falling out which saw the latter embroiled in abuse of power and sodomy allegations, leading to his conviction and first time jailing.

In a related matter, Tengku Adnan also dismissed Bersatu which was officially given a conditional greenlight by the Registrar of Societies today.

"I don't know - Bersatu? Let them be in their own world," he said. - Mkini