I would have been PM if I had caved in to Najib's demand, says Anwar

 

Pakatan Harapan chairperson Anwar Ibrahim said if he was flexible on issues of principle, the prime minister after Muhyiddin Yassin would not be Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

Denying claims that he was “hungry” to become prime minister, Anwar said that when there was a political crisis following Muhyiddin’s fall, he was very close to becoming the country’s number-one leader.

“I want to tell you, I had one foot on the way to the Istana Negara to take the oath the next day.

“(However) That night Najib (Abdul Razak) asked me to sign a certificate to guarantee that he would be free from punishment (on corruption charges).

“I said I can’t (do that) because this is a matter of principle. If I (forget the principle) and sign, I would have gone to the palace to take the oath a long time ago,” he said at a ceremony with more than 100 military veterans from the Tambun parliamentary constituency today.

Also present was the Perak Amanah chief Asmuni Awi.

In August 2021, Muhyiddin was forced to resign as prime minister after losing support in the Dewan Rakyat when 15 Umno MPs withdrew their support for his government.

Prior to that, Anwar announced that he had strong support from parliamentarians, including those from outside Harapan, to be appointed prime minister.

According to Anwar, he had 114 members of Parliament from various parties who supported him at that time.

However, the Umno parliamentarians involved shifted their support from Anwar after BN and Perikatan Nasional (PN) agreed to appoint Ismail Sabri to replace Muhyiddin.

According to Anwar, the change in support would not have happened if he submitted to the wishes of the former prime minister, Najib, so that he would not be punished for his criminal charges.

“There are people campaigning on the premise that Anwar is hungry to become prime minister.

“If I rejected principles and was ready to tolerate this (with Najib), I would have been prime minister for a long time.

“If I wanted to be prime minister, I would have signed an agreement with Najib. And (if that happened) today I will be the prime minister, not Ismail Sabri,” he said. - Mkini