There was betrayal in Negeri Sembilan, Anwar tells Zahid

PUTRAJAYA: Pakatan Harapan chairman Anwar Ibrahim maintains that there were elements of betrayal in Negeri Sembilan despite his Barisan Nasional counterpart, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, rejecting such claims.

Anwar said there were some efforts to destabilise menteri besar Aminuddin Harun’s otherwise stable administration.

“I have previously stated that to ensure the success of (the PH-BN) cooperation in this country, there should be no acts of betrayal.

“If there was no betrayal, that’s good. But from our experience in Negeri Sembilan, there were certainly attempts to bring down the government despite the state’s political and economic stability.

“For me, there was a bit of betrayal,” the prime minister told reporters on the sidelines of the 10th annual general meeting of Koprojaya here today.

Yesterday, Zahid denied that Umno had betrayed PH in Negeri Sembilan, since the party eventually ordered its 14 assemblymen to continue backing Aminuddin’s administration despite initially retracting their support.

The Umno president said his party had agreed to back Aminuddin until the end of his term, but it was the menteri besar’s right to seek the state assembly’s dissolution and call for fresh polls.

The Negeri Sembilan state election will be held on Aug 1, with PH and BN set to clash despite being federal allies.

Anwar, the PKR president, reiterated that his focus remained on economic growth and addressing people’s concerns rather than holding an early general election.

He said it would be better to be spending the next few months focusing on the global economic crisis instead of being preoccupied with elections.