Hamzah Claims Zahid Offered Pact On Condition Of Resolving Cases

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Perikatan Nasional (PN) secretary-general Hamzah Zainudin has compared a deal he said BN offered them after the Sabah state election to the one supposedly struck between BN chairperson Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in the wake of the 15th general election (GE15).
Hamzah said the original agreement between PN and BN, who were still working together at the time, was for Bersatu’s Hajiji Noor to become Sabah chief minister but he claimed Zahid (above) changed his mind at the last minute.
“Suddenly, Zahid changed his mind and said he wanted Bung Moktar Radin to become the chief minister of Sabah instead.
“My friend called me at dawn (the day after the Sabah election results came out) and said ‘Brother, we can settle this with one condition. Resolve the cases of the Umno president.’
“So the deal struck between Anwar and Zahid (after GE15) is because Zahid wanted his cases resolved,” Hamzah said.
Hamzah was speaking in Sik, Kedah last night in a solidarity event for caretaker Kedah menteri besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor, who was recently slapped with two sedition charges over comments he made about the royals.
PN secretary-general Hamzah ZainudinDespite the offer, Hajiji eventually was appointed Sabah chief minister after the Sabah state polls in 2020, while Bung Moktar was appointed the deputy chief minister.
‘No BN support for Anwar’
After GE15, when no one coalition had a clear simple majority, there was a race to see who could reach an agreement to form the federal government first.
While BN initially appeared to be leaning towards supporting PN as the new federal government, they eventually threw their support behind Anwar as the prime minister.
Meanwhile, Hamzah said he recently met with both the MCA and MIC presidents, Wee Ka Siong and SA Vigneswaran, and asked them about BN support for Anwar.
“If they lied to me, then I am lying.
“I want to tell you all, they said that there was never a decision for BN to support Anwar as stated in the letter sent to the rulers,” Hamzah said.
But because PN is a coalition that respects and defends the royal institution, they acceded to the rulers’ decision to appoint Anwar as the new prime minister, he said.
Their respect for the royal institution is also why Sanusi would never insult royalty, Hamzah said.
“The ones that Sanusi wanted to disturb were (PKR secretary-general) Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, (PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli) and Anwar,” Hamzah said. - Mkini

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