PORT DICKSON, July 20 — To date, 11 PKR state chiefs have signed a letter of support backing Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who has come under fire from allies over a sex scandal conspiracy except four; Perak PKR chief Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak, the party’s Selangor chief, Amirudin Shari, now former Johor PKR chief Hassan Abdul Karim and Sarawak PKR chief Baru Bian.
Hassan did not sign the letter, as he had already vacated his position.
Terengganu PKR chief Azan Ismail confirmed the matter to Malay Mail.
He said the other PKR chiefs have been trying to contact Amirudin but have not been able to reach him.
“We have been calling him but he has not been answering our calls, at least until now, and he is also not here today, so far,” Azan said.
“Farhash definitely backs Anwar, but he is just not able to personally sign the letter,” he added.
Farhash who is Anwar’s political secretary, is currently under police remand and therefore is not able to personally sign the letter of support, Azan pointed out.
Azan informed that it were three PKR leaders who have yet to sign the letter of support for Anwar, however, Malay Mail later learned that Baru too is yet to voice his support.
Baru also did not attend the first day of the three-day PKR leaders retreat here, and is yet to be seen today.
In a press conference later, Kedah PKR chief Datuk Johari Abdul iterated Azan’s sentiment, saying that despite numerous calls, Amirudin has yet to answer, nor reply Johari’s messages.
Johari added that there is also no deadline for any state PKR chiefs to sign the letter of support.
Led by Johari, yesterday, five other state party leaders called on their colleagues to stand solidly behind their president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who has come under fire from allies over a sex scandal conspiracy.
The six state party leaders urged the rest of their PKR peers to unite and focus on delivering the Pakatan Harapan election promises instead of attacking each other over the prime ministerial succession plan.
“We are confident that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is a leader who will keep to the promises made to the people in the last general election, and we will stand by him to ensure all the promises are fulfilled,” the six said in a joint letter.
The other five whose names were in the letter were: Perlis PKR chief Amran Kamarudin, Melaka PKR chief Halim Bachik, Federal Territories PKR chief Zahir Hassan, Azan and Kelantan PKR chief Datuk Seri Mohamad Supardi Md Noor.
PKR’s factionalism emerged following the circulation of several sex videos purportedly of Azmin and the party’s former Santubong Youth wing chief Haziq Abdullah Abdul Aziz in May and which have resulted in the arrest of nine people, including Farhash, who is also Anwar’s political secretary.
Two distinct lines have been drawn between Anwar and Azmin after the president two days ago, said his deputy should resign if the videos were proven to be authentic while the latter told his boss to “look into the mirror”.
Haziq was sacked from the party after confessing to the sex and claiming Azmin as his partner.
Azmin has categorically denied involvement, calling the accusation an attempt to tarnish his reputation.
The police yesterday said investigations showed the videos were genuine but were unable to verify the identities of the two men in it.
The Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Datuk Seri Abdul Hamid Bador added that investigations showed the videos were a political conspiracy aimed to topple another individual, without naming anyone.
Farhash is currently under police remand to facilitate investigations into several leaked sex video clips implicating Azmin.
