KUALA LUMPUR, March 8 — Utusan Malaysia advised PKR today to focus their efforts to strengthen its party instead of wasting it on jailed Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
In its weekend editorial column, the editors of the Umno-linked Malay broadsheet who collectively write under the moniker Awang Selamat scoffed at the turnout in the city street demonstration in solidarity with Anwar, claiming that the numbers proved the lack of public interest in the PKR man.
“They aimed for 200,000 attendees but according to some opposition portals, only 4,000 to 5,000 people showed up,” Awang Selamat wrote.
PKR representatives at the rally yesterday estimated the turnout to be at least 10,000 though it was hard to keep count with the number of people taking advantage of the weekend to go out on the street.
Awang said Anwar’s family and PKR were using the “wrong strategy” to gain public support, adding that this issue would weigh down their struggles further.
“Accept the fact that Anwar is no longer the main factor in attracting public support, he is not the real cause.
“PKR will bring the party down if they focused on the Anwar’s issue which has become a liability for the opposition,” it added.
The newspaper suggested the party members vote in their deputy president and Selangor Mentri Besar Azmin Ali to replace incumbent president Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail who is also Anwar’s wife.
“Everyone knows Wan Azizah is just a puppet and unable to bring PKR anywhere. Close the chapter on Anwar. Give chances for the party to recover,” it said.
Thousands of Anwar supporters flooded the streets in the nation’s capital city yesterday, even braving a brief rain shower, to protest the government’s alleged mistreatment of the opposition leader who was jailed last month for sodomising a former male aide, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, in 2008.
The 67-year-old Anwar, who suffers from a bad back, is currently warded at the hospital wing of the Sungai Buloh Prison.
