Letter to king saying Zahid, Najib back Anwar a fake, says Umno

KUALA LUMPUR — The United Malays National Organisation (Umno) on Saturday (Oct 17) denied issuing any letter supporting Anwar Ibrahim as the next prime minister.

“The Umno president’s office has never issued such a letter,” said Umno secretary Mohd Sumali Reduan in a statement.

“We are responsible for preparing all the correspondences and no party letter heads have been issued without a reference number,” he added.

He said the letter was circulated by parties who want to tarnish Umno president Zahid Ahmad Hamidi’s reputation.

Mr Mohd Sumali was commenting on copies of a letter allegedly sent by Mr Zahid to the king, Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah, on October 11.

The letter, purportedly signed by Mr Zahid as well as former prime minister Najib Razak in his capacity as Barisan Nasional advisor, states that all Umno MPs withdraw their support for Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and are unanimously behind Mr Anwar to be the country’s ninth prime minister.

The letter has been circulating on social media.

Mr Anwar claimed on Sept 23 that he had the majority numbers to be the next prime minister, and that Mr Muhyiddin’s government had collapsed.

On Tuesday, he had an audience with the king on the matter. The king is now in the process of meeting the heads of political parties to verify Mr Anwar’s claim.

Earlier on Saturday, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Khairy Jamaluddin posted a photo of the letter on Instagram, saying he was not in support of the Mr Anwar’s bid to be prime minister.

“If the letter is true, I want to categorically state that my party president does not speak for me. I am not supporting Anwar Ibrahim to become PM,” said Mr Khairy in a post on an Instagram story.

“I hope other Umno MPs will make their positions clear. Let’s see then who has the numbers.”

This was followed by a similar denial by Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein.

“As @DrZahidHamidi said before, he cannot stop MPs from supporting Anwar. But if the letter is true, I was not consulted, and this is not my position as an Umno MP,” he said in a tweet. 

“I want to categorically state that I do not support Anwar as PM. I have been consistent — no Anwar, no DAP,” he added, referring to the Democratic Action Party.

Umno secretary-general Ahmad Maslan on Saturday also said the party would never work with Mr Anwar, nor with Dr Mahathir Mohamad or DAP. AGENCIES