In swipe at Bossku, Anwar jokes about Sg Buloh's 'new inmate'

RANTAU POLLS | The Sungai Buloh Prison may soon receive a new inmate, joked PKR president Anwar Ibrahim, who was a prisoner there.

In a swipe at embattled former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, who is on trial for seven of his 42 1MDB-related charges, Anwar said that his former jail cell is yet to be occupied.

“I treated almost 250 Sungai Buloh prison officers to dinner at my house and I asked them if my cell was still empty. They said yes.

“So I asked them to clean it up because there might be a new inmate coming in,” he said in jest during a by-election ceramah at Kampung Pasir in Linsum, Rantau, last night.

The audience responded with shouts of “Bossku!”, referring to Najib’s self-styled persona following BN’s loss in the 14th general election (GE14).

Anwar was formerly interned at Sungai Buloh for almost three years for his Sodomy II charge, which he insists was a politically motivated attack on him.

He was freed after Pakatan Harapan won government in GE14, and accorded a full royal pardon for both sodomy charges.

'Umno leaders also heading to jail'

Anwar, who is also Port Dickson MP, added that many Umno leaders are facing a similar fate as Najib.

“Umno knows it cannot fight (Harapan) anymore. Its (Umno’s) leaders are all queuing up to go to jail.

“Where will they go after this?” he asked, to which the crowd responded saying “Sungai Buloh”.

Among the Umno leaders facing criminal charges are former deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, former Federal Territories minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, former Felda chairperson Isa Samad and former Tabung Haji chairperson Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim.

Anwar went on to urge the voters to support Harapan in the coming April 13 Rantau by-election.

“I ask that the Rantau voters choose the best candidate, not a thief.

“This is a by-election, but it involves big issues. If you don’t vote for Harapan but for Umno-PAS, I believe our country will not be safe,” he said, adding that Malaysia belonged to all races.

The by-election will see incumbent and Umno acting president Mohamad Hasan square off with Harapan’s Dr S Streram, who is from PKR, as well as two independent candidates - homemaker R Malar and retired lecturer Mohd Nor Yassin.

The by-election was triggered by Streram’s successful election appeal against Mohamad’s uncontested win in GE14, after Streram was barred from entering the nomination centre for not having an Election Commission pass with him. - Mkini