PERHAPS THINKING HE’S VERY CLEVER, HISHAM RAIS TROTS OUT SEPT 16 AGAINST NURUL: BUT SEPT 16 WAS PAKATAN VS BN – WHILE MAHATHIR VS ANWAR IS A POWER GRAB WITHIN SAME COALITION & AGAINST PROMISE ON WHICH VOTERS GAVE PAKATAN VICTORY IN GE14

NURUL Izzah Anwar appears to have forgotten her father’s attempt 10 years ago to topple the Barisan Nasional government through defections, said Hishamuddin Rais, reminding the Permatang Pauh MP that jumping ship is normal in politics.

The political activist said Anwar Ibrahim, as the then opposition leader, tried to engineer defections to Pakatan Rakyat and promised a new government on September 16, 2008.

“Anwar did that, and his trusted lieutenant, Tian Chua, was directed to work on the BN MPs at the time,” he told The Malaysian Insight today, referring to PKR’s Chua Tian Chang.

“Nurul Izzah should look back at events and accept that jumping ship is nothing new in politics. She appears to have forgotten what PKR had done.”  

On December 17, Nurul Izzah quit as PKR vice-president, the party’s Penang chief and her government posts to concentrate on reform work.

PKR president Anwar then said his daughter was sick and tired of those more interested in playing politics instead of helping the people.

He said Nurul Izzah had become disillusioned after Umno MPs quit BN, with rumours swirling that they did so to save themselves from possible prosecution and shore up the numbers of another party.

Permatang Pauh MP Nurul Izzah Anwar this month quit as PKR vice-president, the party’s Penang chief and her government posts to concentrate on reform work. – The Malaysian Insight file pic, December 26, 2018.

PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail confirmed that Nurul Izzah had been unhappy with the MPs’ decision to quit the former ruling coalition to eventually join Pakatan Harapan.

Hishamuddin said fears about Anwar’s 2008 plan to engineer defections prompted BN to fly 40 MPs to Taiwan, purportedly on a study tour, a few days before September 16.

It also resulted in a suit by Anwar against then BN man Anifah Aman, who claimed he was offered the deputy prime minister’s post if he joined Pakatan Rakyat.

At a court hearing later, former Dewan Rakyat deputy speaker Ronald Kiandee confirmed that the 40 MPs were flown to Taiwan as part of a BN plan to foil possible defections come September 16.

Hishamuddin said switching political allegiance is normal in a democracy, but can be avoided if the government treats the opposition fairly when distributing allocation.

“Opposition MPs want to jump ship because they stand to lose out on allocation, which they need to serve their constituents.  

“Parliament has to resolve the matter of how allocation is disbursed to MPs. For example, Finland and Denmark ensure that allocation is given to opposition MPs as well.”

– THE MALAYSIAN INSIGHT