CAUGHT SLEEPING ON THE SANUSI JOB, OPPOSITION LEADER HAMZAH GOES HEADLESS CHICKEN – BUT ENDS FIRING WILD & EMPTY BULLETS – BY ACCUSING ZAHID OF SIDING WITH PAKATAN INSTEAD OF PN BECAUSE ‘ZAHID WANTED HIS CASES RESOLVED’ – AS THOUGH NOBODY BELIEVES HIS OWN PN BOSS MUHYIDDIN DID NOT MAKE OFFERS TO ZAHID TO FORM THE NEW GOVT – AND EVEN ACCUSES HOME MINISTER SAIFUDDIN OF TRYING TO ‘CANCEL’ RAFIZI’S VICTORY AS PKR NO.2 – THESE ARE HAMZAH’S ‘POLITICAL STATEMENTS’, SAYS SAIFUDDIN
Opposition leader Hamzah Zainudin alleged that BN chairperson Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had agreed to ally with Pakatan Harapan chairperson Anwar Ibrahim after the last general election in exchange for the corruption cases against him being resolved.
The Perikatan Nasional (PN) secretary-general claimed that a similar deal was offered to him after the Sabah state election.
He said the original agreement between PN and BN, who were still working together at the time, was for Bersatu’s Hajiji Noor to become Sabah chief minister but he claimed Zahid changed his mind at the last minute.
“Suddenly, Zahid changed his mind and said he wanted Bung Moktar Radin to become the chief minister of Sabah instead.
“My friend called me at dawn (the day after the Sabah election results came out) and said ‘Brother, we can settle this with one condition. Resolve the cases of the Umno president.’
“So the deal struck between Anwar and Zahid (after GE15) was because Zahid wanted his cases resolved,” Hamzah said.
Zahid, who is also the deputy prime minister, is facing 47 charges related to criminal breach of trust (CBT) and money laundering linked to funds from Yayasan Akalbudi.
There is also an appeal pending over his acquittal over 40 charges of corruption in connection with the foreign visa (VLN) system.
Despite the offer, Hajiji eventually was appointed Sabah chief minister after the Sabah state polls in 2020, while Bung Moktar was appointed the deputy chief minister.
Hamzah, who is former home minister, was speaking in Sik, Kedah, last night in a solidarity event for caretaker Kedah menteri besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor, who was recently slapped with two sedition charges over comments he made about the royals.
After GE15, when no one coalition had a clear simple majority, there was a race to see who could reach an agreement to form the federal government first.
While BN initially appeared to be leaning towards supporting PN as the new federal government, they eventually threw their support behind Anwar as the prime minister.
‘BN never decided on Anwar’
Meanwhile, Hamzah said he recently met with both the MCA and MIC presidents, Wee Ka Siong and SA Vigneswaran, and asked them about BN’s support for Anwar.
“If they lied to me, then I am lying.
“I want to tell you all, they said that there was never a decision for BN to support Anwar as stated in the letter sent to the rulers,” he said.
Hamzah said because PN is a coalition that respects and defends the royal institution, they acceded to the rulers’ decision to appoint Anwar as the new prime minister.
Citing this respect for the rulers, the PN leader argued that Sanusi would never insult the royal institution.
“The ones that Sanusi wanted to disturb were (PKR secretary-general) Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, (PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli) and Anwar,” he added. MKINI
Saifuddin denies attempting to invalidate Rafizi’s win
Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail has denied allegations that he had asked his predecessor Hamzah Zainudin to invalidate the PKR leadership election results last year.
Speaking to reporters in Kuala Lumpur today, Saifuddin said he had indeed met Hamzah a few times last year for meetings between the then-opposition Pakatan Harapan and government representatives.
However, he said that claims that he had sought the invalidation of the PKR election results were Hamzah’s “political statements”.
Instead, Saifuddin said that if he had wanted to invalidate the elections, he would have done so in his two replies to the Registrar of Societies (ROS), when it issued two show-cause letters to the party.
The letters were issued after the ROS received complaints from party members on the election.
Saifuddin said that as secretary-general, he was compelled to reply to those letters within two weeks or risk having the party deregistered.
“The letters asked us to explain why the party should not be deregistered. Hence, we addressed each issue raised.
“If the claim is that I’m trying to get the party deregistered after I lost to Rafizi (in the PKR deputy president race), I would not have responded to those letters.
“It was that simple,” said Saifuddin.
During the PKR leadership elections in May last year, Rafizi won the deputy president race, soundly beating Saifuddin.
At a Perikatan Nasional rally in Alor Setar last night, Hamzah claimed that a week after the results were announced, he was approached by Saifuddin.
“Saifuddin, don’t forget, after you lost, you came to meet (me), you brought a letter saying ‘please cancel the PKR election (results)’.
“The letter is with me. Don’t play with me,” Hamzah said. MKINI
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