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Umno ramps up attacks on Pakatan Rakyat
By Shazwan Mustafa KamalKUALA LUMPUR, March 8 — In sharp contrast to the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) rally in the city which was broken up by the police, the only drama at Umno’s ceramah in Wangsa Maju was provided by its speakers.
Organised by the Gombak Umno Youth, they attacked the credentials of almost every PR leader, from Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng to Kelantan Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat.
Numerous accusations were also hurled at Gombak MP Azmin Ali with several former PKR Youth leaders who were in attendance claiming that they had evidence of corruption.
The star of the night was none other than Mohd Ezam Mohd Noor, Anwar’s former right-hand man who left PKR shortly after 2008 and joined Umno.
“In the name of Allah, I left the party not because of money, power or anything else but principles. I’ll have you know that I stood by Anwar till the day he was released from prison. I had defended him when no one else would,” said Ezam to a 100-odd people, mostly grassroots Umno supporters.
Ezam, who was at one point PKR Youth head, alleged that he left the party because he could not stand how the party had digressed over the past couple of years.
He said that the Anwar he knew back in 1984 was a different; Anwar who fought for the rights of Malays, and that PKR had deviated from its original manisfesto of being a multiracial party with a focus on the Malays.
“The original party constitution was very clear. PKR, while being a multiracial party, its focus was supposed to also ensure the rights of Malays. I know this because I read the original draft of the party constitution.
“Just a few years after Parti Keadilan Nasional was formed, the “little pharoahs” in the party, liberal Muslims, non-Muslims and leftist activists took control of the direction of the party and it’s been this way ever since. That is why I left PKR for Umno. Umno ensures that the rights of Malays and Islam are protected,” stated Ezam.
He went out of his way to maintain that Anwar has no real say in Pakatan Rakyat, and that he had comprimised his race and beliefs by kow-towing to the likes of DAP, whom Ezam labelled as “communists.”
He also slammed Anwar loyalists like Azmin and party secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution for not being there when Anwar was imprisoned.
“I built PKR Selangor from scratch. I was there when nobody wanted to be near Anwar. I left my wife and kids and I fought for him, I went to prison for him, I got beaten up by the police for him. And all for what? I paid the price for defending him. You must all know the truth about Anwar.”
The former PKR man then showed the crowd pieces of paper which he claimed were proof of bank accounts and shares of Azmin Ali’s amounting to millions of ringgit going back to 1994, when Anwar was still with Umno.
“I want to ask Anwar why Azmin had so much money and how could he afford to earn so much, working in the government? Wan Azizah did not want Azmin in the party, but Anwar cared so much for Azmin, almost like a second wife. Azmin is very close to Anwar, so close that they have had “moments” together,” said Ezam, hinting that Azmin’s relationship with Anwar was more than just that of colleagues.
The verbal attacks on the PKR vice-president had been brought up earlier in the ceramah when Anuar Shaari, former political secretary for Anwar during his tenure as Deputy Prime Minister, said that a police report had been lodged against Azmin.
Like Ezam, he also insinuated that Azmin had been “intimate” with Anwar in the past.
Anuar defended the recent actions of the three PKR MPs who resigned from the party as well as just-sacked Kulim Bandar Baharu MP Zulkifli Noordin as “coming to terms with the truth about Anwar and Pakatan.”
“In Penang, MPs like Zulkifli and Zahrain were complaining about the leadership of Penang under Lim Guan Eng. His rule is an authoritarian one where he controls everything. No one can question him. What does Anwar do? Instead of defending his party members like Zulkifli he sacks the MP for speaking the truth.
“Look at how Guan Eng runs things, everyone is equal... if Malays get 50 per cent, Chinese should not get 50 percent. These are socalist values, almost communism, which is what Guan Eng is. Where can Malays be equal to Chinese? We follow Islamic principles where everything is according to time and place,” said Anuar.
He also hit out at Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim for failing to fulfill any manifestoes of development or change ever since PR took over Selangor.
“What change has Khalid brought? All they do is divide the money and give them to the exco in the Pakatan state line-up. When you also have morally dubious characters in your state exco whose naked pictures have been on the internet, this is bad for the youth because it encourages them to get involved in maksiat (fornication),” claimed Anuar.
He said that the campaign to smear Anwar and Pakatan had only just begun and they would be doubling their efforts in weeks to come with similar ceramahs.
Pakatan Rakyat swept through five states and captured 82 federal seats in a historic win that denied the ruling Barisan Nasional its customary two-thirds parliamentary majority in 2008.
However, Pakatan lost Perak when three lawmakers quit to be independents last year and threw in their support for Barisan Nasional to lead the state government.
Pakatan’s lynchpin PKR lost three MPs and sacked another in the past month as the leadership had to deal with Anwar’s on-going sodomy trial, the second after he was sacked as deputy prime minister in September 1998.
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