Anwar granted audience with king on Oct 13, urges Malaysians to keep calm

 

Anwar Ibrahim revealed he has been granted an audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah at Istana Negara in Kuala Lumpur next Tuesday.

Expressing gratitude to His Majesty, the opposition leader said he would present documentation of the “strong and convincing” support for him to form the federal government.

“I ask all Malaysians to remain calm, protect their health and continue to pray from their homes and workplaces and follow the recovery movement control order procedures,” he added in a brief media statement this evening.

When Sultan Abdullah was undergoing treatment at the National Heart Institute (IJN) in Kuala Lumpur, Anwar held a press conference on Sept 23 to declare that Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin's government had collapsed.

The Pakatan Harapan chairperson said he had sufficient support from lawmakers to take over Putrajaya.

Anwar said he had submitted the list of MPs backing him to the palace and would reveal more after an audience with the king.

Following this, Istana Negara issued a statement that an audience was granted to Anwar and his wife, PKR advisor Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, on Sept 22 but this was cancelled due to the king's health condition.

Sultan Abdullah returned to Istana Negara following his treatment for food poisoning and sports-related injuries on Oct 2.

Anwar's rivals and critics, including former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, have dismissed his claim of possessing the required support and recalled how a similar declaration in the aftermath of the 2008 general election failed to materialise.

Speaking at a rally in Sabah during the state election campaign on Sept 25, Muhyiddin said the attorney-general affirmed that he is still the prime minister and has yet to be summoned to the palace.

The Bersatu president added that should he no longer qualify to be the prime minister, he has two options - to step down or recommend that the Agong dissolves Parliament.

"If the Agong dissolves Parliament, then Anwar (Ibrahim) will just be a PM-in-waiting," he said. - Mkini