KUALA LUMPUR, March 5 — PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today said the PKR member who is suing PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang has agreed to end the defamation lawsuit.

Anwar told reporters today that he conveyed the request to Mohd Shamsul Mat Amin, who is the Dungun PKR Youth chief, to withdraw the RM2 million defamation suit for the common good of the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) pact.

According to Anwar, Mohd Shamsul was first approached by PKR secretary-general Datuk Saifuddin Nasution to drop the suit.

“I then spoke to him and his father. They had agreed to withdraw,” he said.

“We advised him that it is inappropriate to carry on with the case because it does not only involve a friend but the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leadershop,” he said.

On February 16, Mohd Shamsul won a judgment in default against Abdul Hadi in the former’s defamation suit filed on December 5, 2013 and was awarded RM2 million in damages.

Abdul Hadi’s lawyer Asmuni Awi, however, had filed an application to set aside the RM2 million judgment on February 27.

Last April, Abdul Hadi had railed against several PKR candidates in a rally at Kampung Tebakang, Alor Limbat referring to them as drug dealers selling “pil kuda” (methamphetamines) and being communist worshippers.

In the May 5 polls last year, the Barisan Nasional candidate emerged victorious in the Bukit Besi contest with a 6,966-vote win, while Mohd Shamsul only picked up 52 votes against the PAS candidate’s haul of 4,408 votes.