PETALING JAYA: Annuar Musa has questioned how long Umno plans to avoid discussing a letter purportedly from party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi backing Anwar Ibrahim as prime minister.
The former Barisan Nasional (BN) secretary-general said the recent Umno annual general assembly made no mention of the issue although the authenticity of the document had not been denied.
“Delegates were served with a promise and oath that there was never any meeting nor negotiations (with Pakatan Harapan or Anwar), whether official or unofficial,” Annuar said in an online talk show that was webcast via his Facebook page last night.
He said if Zahid was lying about the fact that there were no negotiations at all with PH, the president would have been insulting the delegates at the general assembly.
“(But if he wasn’t lying) I could be charged with defamation or tarnishing the good image of the president,” he said.
In January, Annuar, the Ketereh MP, had revealed that Zahid had sent a letter dated Oct 11 to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong supporting Anwar, the opposition leader, to be the prime minister.
This came amid the PKR president’s claim at a press conference on Sept 23 last year that he had the “strong, formidable and convincing” numbers to oust Muhyiddin Yassin as prime minister and form a new government.
Annuar, who is also federal territories minister in the Perikatan Nasional-led government, said he decided to reveal the letter on the show as he did not agree with Zahid’s stand.
He also claimed that the Umno Supreme Council had not been consulted on the matter.