Aide recounts Anwar's late night phone call not to challenge Zahid's razor-thin victory in Bagan Datuk

A recent admission by Anwar Ibrahim's political secretary that he was instructed by the PKR president not to seek a recount following Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's narrow victory in Bagan Datuk during the 15th general election has once again brought the events surrounding the formation of the current government two years ago into focus.

Interviewed by a pro-government podcast recently, Shamsul Iskandar Md Akin said he felt something was not right when the counting of votes in the constituency continued past midnight as it became clear that Zahid was trailing in his own stronghold.

"I received a call from Anwar at 2.30am," said Shamsul, the PKR candidate in Bagan Datuk, when asked about his narrow defeat to Zahid by 348 votes.

"What's interesting is that Bagan Datuk only had about sixty thousand voters. The (results) for the other constituencies have already been announced... but in Bagan Datuk, not yet."

He said he was determined to win and was ready to call for a recount of the ballots, a common practice by candidates in case of a narrow lead in the first count.

"At the time, I said we have to fight. We have to make sure we count properly. There were almost 800 spoilt votes. I mean, how could it be? I lost by 348 (votes), so we wanted to continue and fight."

Shamsul, however, said Anwar disagreed.

"He (Anwar) called and said that 'I am impressed with your hard work in Bagan Datuk' and so on. 

"'But Sam, we want to form a government. Zahid has already issued a letter to form a government,'" Shamsul told podcast "Apa Cerita?".

Zahid's narrow victory in Bagan Datuk gave the BN a total of 30 seats in the 2022 general election, the coalition's worst electoral performance since it was ousted from power in 2018.

Shamsul said with 82 seats won by Pakatan Harapan (PH), an alliance with BN could achieve a simple majority of 112 seats to form the government.

In the aftermath of the general election, in which no single coalition had a simple majority, Perikatan Nasional (PN) submitted 115 statutory declarations from MPs in support of its chairman Muhyiddin Yassin, fulfilling a deadline set by Istana Negara for political leaders to show their support.

However, the then Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, appointed Anwar as prime minister after Zahid pledged the support of 30 BN MPs for the PH chairman, later followed by Sarawak's GPS which said it was abiding the Agong's call for a stable government.

Shamsul said he doubted Anwar's claim when he was told that PH would get support through Zahid.

"I don't want a repeat of the past when we were played out. People were mocking him, calling him 'PM-in-waiting' and such. This time we wanted to make it happen.

"And he (Anwar) said, 'Yes Sam, we are forming the government'."

Shamsul said he followed Anwar's instruction to concede defeat in Bagan Datuk because he wanted to put the party above himself.

"As I said before, in war you cannot have two generals. The general's order must be obeyed.

"Of course I was sad. We worked very hard and went all out. Surely we wanted to have our personal victory," he added.

Shamsul's revelations confirm a series of reports about Anwar and Zahid's secret alliance long before the 15th general election.

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Two weeks before polling day, PN secretary-general Hamzah Zainudin said Anwar had wanted to make Shamsul a sacrificial lamb by sending him to Bagan Datuk to run against Zahid, adding that this was done because Shamsul was seen as part of "Azmin's team", referring to former PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali who was expelled from the party in 2020.

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had also claimed that Anwar and Zahid had formed a secret alliance to form the government after the general election, but this was denied by both politicians.

The allegation is not surprising considering that Zahid had sent a letter to Istana Negara in October 2020 expressing his support for Anwar as prime minister in the hope of toppling the Muhyiddin government in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In April 2021, a leaked recording of a phone conversation between Anwar and Zahid offered the clearest proof that the two leaders had planned to set the tone of the just-concluded Umno general assembly, where they could be heard exchanging pleasantries over the way delegates accepted Zahid's proposal to cut ties with PN, then in a coalition government with Umno.

The move was in stark contrast to the Umno Supreme Council's stated policy of rejecting Anwar and DAP in any future political arrangement.

'Investigate misuse of palace's name'

Responding to the latest revelation, vocal lawyer Rafique Rashid said it confirmed that the formation of the government had been planned much earlier and not at the request of the Agong, as Anwar and Zahid often claim.

"Apparently Zahid prepared the documents earlier. The speculation turns out to be true.

"So why was the Agong's name used?" Rafique told MalaysiaNow, adding that police should investigate the latestrevelation.

He recalled that the Save Malaysia Secretariat group had lodged a police report in November last year calling for an investigation into government leaders who they accused of misleading the public by claiming that the "unity government" was to fulfill the Agong's decree.

Rafique said the latest information from Shamsul should prompt the police to launch an investigation into the police report.