Zuraida Says She Told Off Anwar For Picking Farhash As Political Aide

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Former PKR vice-president Zuraida Kamaruddin said she once told off party president Anwar Ibrahim for appointing Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak as his political secretary.
In a podcast interview reflecting on the events that led to the “Sheraton Move”, which toppled the first Pakatan Harapan government, Zuraida said that she had issues with Farhash’s credibility and being an unknown entity to PKR circles.
She also said Anwar’s choosing of Farhash was another instance in which the PKR president sidelined the then deputy president Azmin Ali’s “team”, of which Zuraida was a member.
“He (Anwar) would not give us a chance, not even then. I actually met Anwar and got angry with him about why he appointed Farhash as his political secretary, someone we didn’t know; we had no idea where he came from.
“Then he became political secretary and later got caught up in police cases, a gun case, and all sorts of things.
“I said, how could you take on someone like that? Why didn’t you pick someone from Abim, one of your own senior and more mature people? That would have been better for you.
“That was when I really attacked Anwar, and I also criticised him over Saifuddin (Nasution Ismail), who, as (then) secretary-general, simply wasn’t doing his job,” she said in the Muafakat podcast show.
Anwar Ibrahim and Saifuddin Nasution IsmailAbim refers to the Malaysian Muslim Youth Movement, where Anwar was among its early leaders and founders during his student days.
Zuraida said that many discussions took place at the time with Anwar to negotiate appointment matters before PKR had its annual general meeting in Malacca.
‘Even Dr M couldn’t take it anymore’
She alleged that Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who was prime minister at the time, was also growing increasingly frustrated with DAP, accusing its ministers of disobedience.
“He (Mahathir) himself said he couldn’t stand it anymore,” she said.
She said that at the same time, support for Pakatan Harapan was also diminishing, as the coalition was losing in by-elections.
Anwar and Dr Mahathir MohamadAdditionally, Zuraida said, Anwar was allegedly constantly pressuring Mahathir to hand over power to him.
“Our power base was gone. After that, we struggled to stabilise the government, and many of the ministers were still learning the ropes.
“In that situation, Anwar was busy asking to switch, switch, switch, and so on. That created turmoil for me within the party, and it also fuelled the conflicts within the cabinet.
“Mahathir and others were unhappy. So we felt something had to be done. I mean, those of us close to Mahathir knew something had to be done,” Zuraida added.
Ex-PKR deputy president Azmin AliAzmin was sacked from PKR on Feb 24, 2020, along with Zuraida, after the “Sheraton Move”.
On the same day, Azmin and 10 other MPs declared they would form an independent bloc in the Dewan Rakyat, before formally joining Bersatu later that week.
Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin was sworn in as prime minister on March 1, and shortly afterwards, Azmin was appointed senior minister for international trade and industry in the new cabinet. - Mkini

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