DAP to stay out of Anwar’s ‘formidable’ bloc as Umno MPs keep a distance

DAP leaders have been incensed by the latest move by PKR president Anwar Ibrahim to seize power through defections, in the most recent sign of trouble in the Pakatan Harapan coalition since its fall from power this year.

This comes after Anwar sought the backing of his former loyalist Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, the Umno president, as well as from several Barisan Nasional (BN) MPs who are facing corruption allegations in court.

MalaysiaNow understands that DAP leaders “made it very clear” to Anwar that the party, with 42 MPs in the Dewan Rakyat, would not join any bloc made up of Umno MPs, “in particular those smeared by corruption”.

“That is the reason why Anwar went ahead to secure an appointment with the Agong, hoping to get groundswell support from many more Umno MPs,” said an aide to a top PKR politician.

Zahid is facing 47 charges of corruption, criminal breach of trust and money laundering, topping all former leaders of the BN government who have been slapped with graft charges since the coalition’s fall from power in 2018.

Yesterday, Anwar said Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah had consented to a royal audience on Oct 13, at which he would furnish details of his claim to having a “formidable and convincing” majority support from MPs to form the government.

This came almost three weeks after Anwar declared that Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s government had fallen, and that he was on the verge of forming a “Malay-majority” government.

But a source said that even without the numbers, Anwar would be content with getting an appointment with the king.

But a source said that even without the numbers, Anwar would be content with getting an appointment with the king.

“Between today and next Tuesday, there is every possibility that anxious businessmen and tycoons unfamiliar with the numbers game will be willing to put their stake with Anwar, all because of this royal audience,” the source quipped without going into details.

MalaysiaNow also understands that several Umno MPs distanced themselves from Anwar after finding their names on a list of MPs that the PKR politician said would be presented to the palace.

At least one of them, Jerantut MP Ahmad Nazlan Idris, lodged a police report yesterday alleging that he had not given consent for his name to be on the list.

Two others who have strongly denied backing Anwar are Padang Terap MP Mahdzir Khalid and Jempol MP Salim Shariff.