Top palace official dismisses claim of bid to block Ismail, force unity govt

Comptroller of the Royal Household Ahmad Fadil Shamsuddin says he will not entertain a blogger’s claim that he is involved in attempts to block Ismail Sabri Yaakob from being sworn in as the next prime minister if he does not establish a unity government.

“Please don’t entertain RPK. Let the public read and analyse on their own,” Fadil told MalaysiaNow, referring to Raja Petra Kamaruddin who blogs on the Malaysia Today website.

This follows calls from the opposition side for the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to ignore the majority support of MPs for Ismail, and instead establish a unity government including Pakatan Harapan leaders.

Yesterday, 114 MPs from Perikatan Nasional, Barisan Nasional and the independent bloc were called to the palace to confirm their support for Ismail, the Umno vice-president.

But Raja Petra in a blog post claimed there were attempts to stop Ismail from being sworn in as prime minister if he did not agree to choose Anwar Ibrahim as his deputy and form a unity government with PH.

Raja Petra also labelled Fadil and Perak Islamic Religious and Malay Customs Council president Mohd Annuar Zaini as “staunch supporters” of Anwar, claiming they were behind the leak of confidential palace documents to the media.

“No worries, surrender to Allah,” Fadil said when asked about the claims.

Raja Petra had previously posted on his blog questioning the leak of palace correspondence with top officials.

His post was accompanied by a picture of Fadil in what appeared to be an attempt to portray him as the source.

Ismail is said to have obtained the support of 114 MPs compared to Anwar who is believed to have 105 MPs behind him.

Yesterday, DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang said if there were only two names for the position of prime minister, the second could be appointed as deputy prime minister in the formation of a unity government.