Azmin and I are still a team, says Anwar

PKR president Anwar Ibrahim has said that he and his deputy president Azmin Ali are still "a team", after tensions rose between the two over the series of sex videos purportedly implicating the latter.

"Azmin is the deputy president. We have to work together as a team, have regular meetings and discussions.

"It is a team. He had the mandate in the last party elections (as the deputy president)," Anwar said in a press conference at the PKR retreat in Port Dickson today.

Anwar, who is also the Port Dickson MP, was responding to a question on whether he will work with his deputy president to address problems in the party to strengthen PKR.

The PKR retreat was held at the luxury hotel Lexis Hibiscus in Port Dickson over this weekend, with 120 elected representatives out of 140 from the party in attendance.

Among the notable absentees were Azmin, vice-president Zuraida Kamaruddin and Sarawak PKR chairperson Baru Bian.

Anwar said the consensus within the party is to "move on" from problems within the party, which he described as minor and exaggerated to a large extent.

Instead, he said, the party should be focusing on issues concerning the rakyat.

The retreat had ended with a resolution signed by all 120 in attendance to fully back Anwar as the party president.

PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution (below) said the resolution will be forwarded to the remaining 20 who did not attend, and Anwar said they will be given the space to examine the resolution before signing it.

Saifuddin later told reporters he last spoke to Azmin about the retreat on Friday, where Azmin told him he would not be able to make it due to "prior commitments".

"I think I have done my part. I did issue a notice, I did a follow-up, I contacted the office. I tried my level best.

"But when he said he had other commitments, I have to respect that," he said.

After tensions seemingly escalated between Anwar and Azmin recently, Anwar had released a statement, seemingly as an olive branch, to Azmin yesterday.

Anwar had said he welcomed police findings that Azmin was “not involved” in the sex video.

Azmin later tweeted that he needed time to process Anwar’s overtures.

"I read the 'full statement' written by the PKR president which was issued this evening. Give me some time to process this new development," he tweeted.

In subsequent tweets, Azmin said he took note of Anwar's current stance on the matter, as well as the PKR president's pledge to take action against those involved in criminal acts over the video.

PKR has for years been divided between those aligned to Anwar and Azmin, but the situation exacerbated over the past month following the circulation of a sex video implicating the latter.

Speculation has been rife that the video is related to the tussle over the prime minister's post following claims that premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad preferred Azmin to succeed him, despite an earlier agreement that Anwar would take over the reins.

Azmin, who is also economic affairs minister, is convinced that those responsible for the video are from within PKR. 

The situation reached a boiling point after Anwar said Azmin should resign if it was proven to be him in the video. - Mkini