Najwan first to warn us about Saiful, says Anwar's daughter

GE14 | On the campaign trail for PKR's Kota Anggerik candidate Najwan Halimi, Nurul Nuha Anwar credited the 33-year-old as being the first person to warn her family about Saiful Bukhari Azlan, the man who landed her father in jail.

The second daughter of jailed former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim recalled that her first encounter with Saiful was sometime during the 12th general elections in 2008.

"Najwan was the first to warn us about Saiful because they studied together in university.

"He already warned us from the beginning... they used to debate against each other but Saiful would always be on BN's side," she said to around 60 residents who gathered at Junction 11, a local restaurant here.

Nurul Nuha also recalled her first encounter with Saiful while on the campaign trail for GE12.

"It was after a mega ceramah in Lembah Pantai, my younger sister and I went back to the operations centre.

"My father told us to go home because it was already after midnight, so I left with my sister and another relative," she said.

"Suddenly there was this kid (budak) who jumped into our car. We never met, so he asked for our names... then his first question was, 'are you close to papa' (Anwar)," she recalled.

"Isn't that such a strange question to ask?" she said, to murmurs of "Yes..." from the audience comprising both the elderly and a younger crowd, including first-time voters.

Nurul Nuha said, however, they did not figure out until it was too late how the curious questions were meant to "build a story" that was eventually used against her father.

She also urges the crowd to follow her father's example in setting aside his differences with Pakatan Harapan chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad and work together to vote out BN in this election.

Anwar is currently serving a five-year prison term for sodomising Saiful, his former aide.

The PKR de facto leader has maintained that the charge, like the first against him during Mahathir's time as prime minister, was fabricated by his political rivals.

Saiful, in response to Mahathir's call for Anwar's freedom, also maintained that he was a "real victim" of a criminal act.  - Mkini