PORT DICKSON: PKR’s Port Dickson candidate Anwar Ibrahim says it is a challenging task to run the country now as many of Malaysia’s problems are unprecedented.
At an event here last night, he said these problems included money-related issues involving 1MDB, Felda, Mara and Tabung Haji.
Pointing to Dr Mahathir Mohamad, he said the prime minister had said he never came across such problems during his first stint in office.
“(The old administration) didn’t take action, so now we are faced with a very difficult situation,” he added.
“Some people ask, why is Anwar only raising these old issues? These problems which were caused by the former administration, we have to pay for now. That is why I said to run this country now is very challenging.”
Anwar, who is PKR president-elect, added that it was not easy to find people willing to give their statements on the 1MDB scandal.
“Do you think it is so easy to charge the former prime minister?” he said, referring to Najib Razak who has been slapped with 32 charges of criminal breach of trust, abuse of power and money laundering-related offences.
He also took a dig at Umno lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, who led the prosecution against him in the Sodomy 2 trial.
Anwar was jailed for five years in 2015 after being convicted of sodomising his former aide, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan. He was released after being granted a royal pardon on May 16.
“Now, (Shafee) is the one being charged,” he said, referring to the four money laundering charges brought against the lawyer in relation to the RM9.5 million transferred to him by Najib.
“That is karma.”
Anwar also pledged not to make empty promises ahead of the Port Dickson by-election on Oct 13.
“When I was a kid, each time during the general election period there would be promises to build more street lamps,” he said.
“They would come and put up the electric cable poles. But after the election, these poles would be left behind without the lamps.”
The Port Dickson seat was vacated by its MP Danyal Balagopal Abdullah to pave the way for Anwar’s attempt to return to Parliament.
Danyal, a former naval officer, won the seat in the May 9 polls with 36,225 votes, beating Barisan Nasional’s VS Mogan (18,515 votes) and PAS’ Mahfuz Roslan (6,594 votes).
The Port Dickson by-election will see a seven-way fight between Anwar, PAS’ Mohd Nazari Mokhtar and four independent candidates – former Negeri Sembilan menteri besar Isa Samad, social media personalities Stevie Chan and Kan Chee Yuen, local educator Lau Seck Yan, and Saiful. -Mkini
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