Anwar to the defence of DAP, Umno

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim came to the defence of the DAP and Umno again at the launch of Pakatan Harapan and BN Selangor election machinery last night.

In his speech, the Harapan chairperson said despite being a frequent target of opposition criticism, DAP has consistently backed government decisions to provide aid and support to the Malays and Muslims.

"They keep criticising DAP. We’ve increased allocations for Muslims, and there was no objection (from DAP). They cooperated.

"Even when I presented it (the allocations) to the Cabinet, Umno president (Ahmad Zahid Hamidi) agreed, and even (DAP secretary-general) Anthony Loke supported it," he said during his speech in Bangi last night.

He emphasised that DAP consistently lends its support to these endeavours in the nation's best interest, including the recent initiative to address the debts of Felda settlers.

Frozen accounts

Anwar also decried the double standards by the former Perikatan Nasional government, which then supported the freezing of Umno's accounts, but now complained about the same fate imposed on Bersatu's accounts.

"They froze Umno's accounts when they were in power, but now they are angry because their accounts are frozen”, he said.

Last December, Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi claimed that there were attempts to ban the party after the 15th general election (GE15).

However, Zahid revealed that the attempt failed to materialise as someone " saved " him. He did not tell who the person who saved him was.

Meanwhile, Anwar expressed his strong desire for the Harapan-BN machinery to work together to be victorious in the forthcoming six-state elections on Aug 12.

Anwar mentioned that the effort is crucial to prevent the country from being governed by “extremists and traitors”.

He revealed that during the eight months of leading the unity government, Malaysia has shown economic growth, and investor confidence has improved.

Aside from Anwar and Zahid, leaders of the unity government attended the launch of the Harapan-BN Selangor machinery last night.

This included incumbent Selangor menteri besar Amirudin Shari, Selangor Umno chairperson Megat Zulkarnain Omardin, and Cabinet ministers.

The election machinery launch witnessed the presence of thousands of supporters from both coalitions. - Mkini