You can forget about becoming PM, Pejuang’s Khairuddin blasts Anwar as rumours swirl over palace meetings

Former Umno man Khairuddin Abu Hassan, who recently appealed to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to meet with political leaders from all parties, has launched a scathing attack on Pakatan Harapan (PH) and PKR chief Anwar Ibrahim as rumours on an imminent transfer of power to the opposition make the rounds once again on social media.

Khairuddin, a loyalist of Dr Mahathir Mohamad who is remembered for his rebellion in Umno in the early days of the 1MDB scandal, rejected the claim that Anwar has enough support to form the government or become the prime minister.

“Anwar is Anwar, a man with a lust for power and who is impatient to become the PM,” he told MalaysiaNow.

“He is so full of himself,” he added, using the Malay slang “syok sendiri”.

Khairuddin said Anwar had many times exposed himself by claiming to have “convincing” and “formidable” numbers to form a new federal government.

“But at his last press conference on securing enough support to become PM, Anwar said he had ‘sufficient numbers’.

“So from ‘convincing’ and ‘formidable’, it is now ‘sufficient numbers’,” Khairuddin said.

“Everyone including the Agong no longer believes his lies and psychological warfare in the political game. That’s all Anwar is good at.”

Yesterday, Khairuddin who is also chairman of Mahathir’s Pejuang pro-tem committee for the federal territory, said Istana Negara had summoned the leaders of all political parties.

Reports pointing to a plan to form a “unity government” to “save Malaysia” were however disproved as it is understood that these are part of the palace’s routine meetings with political leaders to get their feedback on efforts to contain the pandemic during the state of emergency.

Opposition politicians are also among 19 members of a bipartisan committee agreed on by the government, which is tasked with advising the Agong on measures to contain the Covid-19 pandemic throughout the virus emergency.

This latest speculation on the palace’s decision to meet with political leaders comes more than a month after a petition was sent to the Agong by the Committee for Ending the Emergency Declaration (Tamat Darurat), a group which includes Khairuddin, seeking an audience with Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah to convey its stance on the state of emergency.

Khairuddin, in a series of hard hitting remarks against Anwar, said the latter had proven to be an “expert” only in deceiving the public with his psy-war tactics.

“Indeed, he has not learnt anything from the past.

“Had he remained patient when PH was in power, today he would be the PM,” said Khairuddin.

PH leaders had named Anwar as the prime minister-in-waiting after Mahathir, but the transition did not take place as the coalition government collapsed in February 2020 due to infighting both within PKR as well as among the four coalition parties.

PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali had then left the party with several key MPs, who later joined Bersatu to form a federal coalition comprising Umno, PAS, GPS and several disparate parties.

Khairuddin said it was Anwar’s political game that had led to the crisis in PKR, sparking Azmin’s exit.

“Today, support for Anwar both within and outside of PKR has weakened.

“No one has confidence in Anwar anymore. He is full of rhetoric and he cannot work.

“It is no longer relevant for him to paddle his ‘sufficient numbers’ to become the PM.

“Anwar will not and cannot become the PM. Anwar’s political era has passed, and it will never ever come back again,” said Khairuddin.