Azalina tells of ‘many offers’ in the past to leave Umno

 

Azalina Othman Said says she chose to remain in Umno for her constituents’ sake.

PENGERANG: Former minister Azalina Othman Said has revealed that she received many offers in the past to leave Umno, but chose to remain with the party instead.

She also vowed to remain with Umno to serve the people of Pengerang, of which she is the MP.

She said “various offers were made (to her in the past), but I won’t leave as I want to keep a promise made to the people of Pengerang. I’ve been here for 20 years. If I wanted to leave, I would have done so a long time ago.”

She did not say where the offers came from, but her remarks come in the midst of speculation about Umno members switching parliamentary support to opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.

Anwar, who is PKR president, said last month he had enough support to form a new government. He is expected to have an audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on Tuesday.

Azalina, who is deputy speaker of the Dewan Rakyat, said she was confident that the King would have the people’s interest in heart before making any decision.

“But I pity the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. as long as there are no anti-hopping laws we will see a change of government every week, just like in Hollywood or Bollywood” she said.

In March last year, Hanipa Maidin, who was then a deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, ruled out enacting an anti-hopping law, saying any move to compel party hoppers to vacate their seats would be unconstitutional. - FMT