Former premier Muhyiddin Yassin described Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim as manipulating the issue of the Felda settlers’ debt write-off.
The Perikatan Nasional chairperson’s legal team said this in today’s letter of response to the Pakatan Harapan chairperson’s letter of demand issued on Friday last week for the former to apologise to the latter over alleged defamation.
According to the letter, the Pagoh MP’s lawyer from Rosli Dahlan Saravana Partnership contended that media statements by Anwar and the Finance Ministry dated July 20 were about sukuk (Islamic bonds) and not about Felda settlers’ debts which Muhyiddin contended had been written off in 2021.
Muhyiddin’s counsel claimed that the PKR president refused to retract the allegedly defamatory statements against the former, further alleging that the latter is trying to twist the issue, akin to menegakkan benang yang basah (trying to straighten a tangled knot, akin to doing something impossible).
The Bersatu president’s legal team further contended that Anwar’s demand for the former to pay RM200 million to the latter over alleged defamation is nonsensical (merepek) and would amount to an abuse of legal process if filed in court.
Muhyiddin’s counsel added that they have instructions to proceed with legal action against the Tambun MP.
When contacted by Malaysiakini over whether Anwar would proceed with legal action against Muhyiddin, the premier’s counsel Sankara Nair said he would get instructions on the matter.
On July 20, Anwar released an assignment for Financial Service Reserve Account (FSRA) providing Felda with a government guarantee, as well as a sukuk issuance order.
In a separate statement on the same day, the Finance Ministry reiterated that the agreement was to give an RM9.9 billion government guarantee to Felda to restructure its debts through sukuk issuances and credit rounds.
It said the government would finance the buyback of the sukuk through the issuance of RM990 million in grants each year for 10 years.
The media statements were a response to Muhyiddin’s claim that Anwar defamed him during a speech at the Felda Settlers Day reception in Serdang on July 7.
Parliamentary reply
During the event, Anwar claimed that an initiative to restructure and forgive Felda’s debts under Muhyiddin’s administration was promised but never materialised.
“Only in the Madani budget for 2023, I provided an early allocation of RM990 million to waive Felda settlers’ debts of RM8.3 billion,” Anwar said, adding that he has signed off on the relevant document in late June.
Muhyiddin had dismissed Anwar’s claims as a lie, citing a parliamentary reply from Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Azalina Othman Said on Feb 23 that the waiver was carried out in 2021, though the present government is unable to continue what he started due to cash-flow problems.
He also demanded an apology, failing which, he will sue Anwar for allegedly defaming him. - Mkini
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