Saifuddin: 'No regrets' seeking non-Harapan support for Anwar

 

PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said he had no regrets negotiating with non-Pakatan Harapan MPs and parties to back Anwar Ibrahim as prime minister.

At a televised debate with PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli today, Saifuddin (above) said he was mandated by Harapan and PKR to conduct the negotiations and he did not act unilaterally.

"When the Harapan government fell, PKR had discussions, and Harapan also held discussions. A decision was made that we are to negotiate with MPs outside Harapan.

"The task was given to several leaders. And I want to stress that it was not about me Saifuddin Nasution doing the negotiation on my own accord, it was a collective decision.

"I was given the task to approach leaders from Sabah and Sarawak, and also to meet parties outside Harapan including independent MPs, MPs from an Islamic party, from Umno. From all parties.

"What we needed then was not for them to jump from their party (to ours), but (we wanted) their commitment to support (Anwar as prime minister)," he said.

Saifuddin was answering a question posed by Rafizi, who asked the former why he was involved in discussion with Umno leaders including Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and former premier Najib Abdul Razak.

PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli

Explains the rationale

Saifuddin explained the rationale for such negotiations was that Harapan only needed a few more MPs to unseat then prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

He stressed that progress on all negotiations was reported back to the coalition and its MPs were briefed.

"If this was a clandestine operation that was detrimental (to Harapan), it would have been impossible for us to do it in such a transparent manner.

"It was an effort done just because we were short of only several seats," he said.

Saifuddin stressed that Anwar had indeed secured a number of MPs enough to make him prime minister, and they had sent a letter to Istana Negara with all the legal documents to prove his claim.

"If you ask me if I regret having done these negotiations, I say no. Because I was only doing the task that was given to me by Harapan.

"Alhamdulillah, even though (we) did not succeed, I learned the lesson from this episode," he said. - Mkini