Puteri Umno ridicules Mahathir’s support for Anwar’s release

‘I do not know what to think of him nowadays,’ says Puteri Umno leader Mas Ermieyati.

PUTRAJAYA: Puteri Umno leader Mas Ermieyati Samsudin has ridiculed former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s public endorsement of a PKR petition calling for the release of opposition icon Anwar Ibrahim, who is serving a five-year jail sentence on a sodomy charge.

Mas Ermieyati said Mahathir’s act of signing the “Free Anwar” petition at the PKR annual congress during the weekend was “questionable”.

She urged the former prime minister, who quit Umno to become chairman of PPBM, to look back on his actions when he was holding the top office.

“It is a questionable act by Mahathir to back the de facto opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim as he was the one responsible for putting Anwar in jail (in 1999).

“Mahathir now is not the same as back when he was the prime minister. He was the one who put Anwar behind bars (after the former deputy prime minister was convicted in the case known as Sodomy One).

“This kind of individual, how can we look up to him, right? I do not know what to think of him nowadays. The public can judge for themselves,” she said at a media conference to announce the launch of Iftar@KL 2017.

Mahathir attended the congress together with PPBM president Muhyiddin Yassin and deputy president Mukhriz Mahathir. PPBM is a member of opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan (PH), which also comprises PKR, DAP and Amanah.

All PH leaders at the congress held placards with the words “Anwar PM Ke-7” (Anwar 7th PM), except for Mahathir, Muhyiddin and Mukhriz.

Mahathir said he supported the release of Anwar because it was current Prime Minister Najib Razak who had jailed the PKR leader. The previous imprisonment during his premiership was “an old story”, he added.

Iftar@KL 2017, to be held at Dataran Merdeka here, is a rebrand of the previous Ramadan Festival.

Events are scheduled every weekend throughout the fasting month. They will include breaking of fast, distribution of “bubur lambuk” and Quran recitations.

Zakat counter services will also be available together with food counters catering to homeless people. -FMT