SHAH ALAM, Oct 2 — Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali today took a swipe at his now arch nemesis and Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, saying that he is ready to contest the latter for the Gombak parliamentary seat.
He stopped short of naming the trio explicitly, but gave enough hints, pointing to Anwar, his wife Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and Nurul Izzah as being the referred persons.
He stopped short of naming the trio explicitly, but gave enough hints, pointing to Anwar as being the referred person.
On Anwar’s recent announcement that he is eyeing to contest in seats held by “traitors”, Mohamed Azmin listed events alleging to be Anwar’s own betrayals to voters, such as the failed ‘Kajang Move’ and the Port Dickson by-election.
The Port Dickson by-election was to pave the way for Anwar’s re-entry into politics while the ‘Kajang Move’ was to enable him to become Selangor mentri besar then.
“People of Malaysia, please remember. History cannot be erased,” Mohamed Azmin said, at the event to launch Bersatu’s division meetings and the Selangor state election machinery.
Mohamed Azmin is currently Bersatu’s supreme council member and the Senior Minister of International Trade and Industry.
"There is someone who is already interested in coming to Gombak. Please come. Gombak is open!
"I am anak jantan (man). (He) can send his wife too, (he) can send his child too. If brave enough, send yourself to Gombak," he said to thunderous cheers and applause from his party supporters.
"I feel like replying to him but he is not relevant anymore. But the accusations thrown are too much. Till they diligently created a narrative that we are all traitors, therefore the seats of traitors would be fought for till the end. I want to ask, who is the real traitor here?" Azmin said.
He then narrated incidents as to how PKR’s Lee Chin Cheh had contested and won Kajang democratically in the 13th general election, only to be ordered by "this greedy man" to make way for him, by resigning and forcing a by-election, in order to become the Selangor menteri besar then.
"Can't become prime minister, so if (he) gets to just become mentri besar, that works too," Azmin said in a jibe, saying that despite the plans, Anwar failed to clinch the post as he was jailed yet again, over a sodomy charge.
"This is all Allah's will, isn't it? I thought after he went in (jailed), it's all right, give me the chance then to become mentri besar. He placed his wife. Isn't that a betrayal?" he added.
"Don't forget. Port Dickson already had an elected representative. Had not died. Still healthy. Just won, that too," Azmin said, adding that PKR did not agree to force a by-election in Port Dickson at that time, whose MP was Danyal Balagopal Abdullah, as he had already won the seat and got the mandate of voters.
Azmin then said that it was Anwar who kept insisting on contesting, adding that the prime minister at that time, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was also stressed over the developments, leading to his resignation as prime minister.
Last week, Anwar said that he will be setting his sights on parliamentary seats of those who had betrayed Pakatan Harapan (PH), for the next general election.
Speaking at a dinner and forum event by the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Journalists Club (KLS) on September 28, the Port Dickson MP said that he wants to choose such areas to send a message to those who absconded when the then 22-month old Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration collapsed.
Anwar was elected Port Dickson MP in an October 2018 by-election after he received a royal pardon and was released from imprisonment over a sodomy charge.
Before that, he had been Permatang Pauh MP for many terms.
