Speaker Art Harun shocked by friends who ‘unfriended’ him

Dewan Rakyat Speaker Azhar Harun says one of the things that saddens him the most is the fact that many of his close friends snubbed him after the change of government in 2020.

In a frank interview on “Talk, Now”, a new online show by MalaysiaNow, Azhar spoke of how friends had started behaving “as if they were not my friends”.

But Azhar, who used to blog under the pen name Art Harun before he was appointed as the Election Commission chairman during Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) administration, said his current role is still non-partisan, similar to his former position.

“I have not changed. I am in the middle. In the past, A was on the left, so A saw my left side. B was on the right, and saw my right side.

“Now, I am still in the middle. A and B have swapped places. That’s all,” he said, referring to the political realignment in February 2020 which saw Muhyiddin Yassin sworn into power to lead a new government following the collapse of PH.

Azhar said he was happy to assume the role of chairing Dewan Rakyat sessions as he had friends on both sides of the political divide.

“The reaction that I got, I must say, was shocking. It still shocks me now.”

The full interview can be watched on YouTube and Facebook.