Revealed: Najib, Zahid jointly wrote to palace in support of Anwar

Explosive revelations have emerged on what transpired in the run-up to Anwar Ibrahim’s royal audience at Istana Negara on Tuesday, highlighting how two Umno leaders played a role in supporting the PKR president’s plan to topple the federal government.

MalaysiaNow has learnt that former prime minister Najib Razak and his former deputy Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who between them have been slapped with a total of 79 corruption charges, jointly wrote a letter to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to express support for Anwar.

The revelation confirms speculation that the trio, who were all in the same camp in Umno in the 1990s, were working hand in hand to dislodge the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government.

But a high-level source in Umno which revealed the contents of the letter to MalaysiaNow said Najib and Zahid “were as vague as Anwar” in expressing support for the PKR leader to form a new government.

In the letter dated Oct 11, addressed to Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, they said that they, along with “a group of Umno MPs”, were backing Anwar.

“No names were mentioned except theirs,” the source told MalaysiaNow under condition of strict anonymity.

Anwar’s letter to the king regarding his claim to power was “vague and presumptuous on all levels”.

MalaysiaNow has also been able to verify the claims with several parties familiar with negotiations between Anwar and Najib.

The revelation comes three days after Anwar was granted a 25-minute audience with Sultan Abdullah, only for the palace to issue a damning statement some three hours later, telling the PKR leader to follow the legal process.

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The palace also contradicted Anwar’s claim that he had furnished “authentic documents”, saying the PKR leader failed to provide details of the MPs beyond the total numbers he claimed to possess to topple Muhyiddin Yassin.

Anwar today confirmed that he had never presented the names of the MPs to the Agong.

“Please don’t put words in my mouth. In my statement, if you recall, I said I presented letters and documents,” he told reporters after emerging from a session with Bukit Aman police who are investigating him based on reports accusing him of fabricating the support of MPs.

Anwar ‘presumptuous’ letter to Agong

MalaysiaNow has also learnt that Anwar’s letter to the king regarding his claim to power was “vague and presumptuous on all levels”.

In the three-page letter, Anwar said he had the support of MPs comprising those from his Pakatan Harapan coalition, Umno and “several individuals”.

“He then went on to say, in the letter, that others from East Malaysia would follow suit to boost his numbers,” the source said on the contents of Anwar’s letter.

One GPS MP, when told about Anwar’s claim, described it as an insult to East Malaysian elected representatives.

“Not only is this a mockery of his claim to a ‘clear and formidable majority’, it is also vague and presumptuous on all levels, and an insult to Sabah and Sarawak MPs,” the MP said.

MalaysiaNow will also separately reveal the sole “individual” MP who had signed a statutory declaration in support of Anwar.