KUALA LUMPUR, July 13 — Jailed PKR leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has questioned an invitation to attend Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s open house for Hari Raya this Friday.

A snapshot of the invitation card was posted on his Facebook page yesterday, displaying clearly Anwar’s name and that of his wife and incumbent Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail to the Raya open house at the prime minister’s official residence in Seri Perdana, Putrajaya on the first day of the Muslim festival.

A caption accompanying the picture read in Malay: DSAI terima jemputan Rumah Terbuka Raya dari PM. Macam mana? wajib hadir?

[Translation: “DSAI received an invitation to a Raya Open House from PM. How? Compulsory to attend?”]

Anwar is popularly known by the initials DSAI on social media.

The post has since drawn over 15,000 “likes” and more than 1,100 shares on Facebook with mixed responses from commentators.

Facebooker Ganesh Reddy sought to keep an objective view of the invitation said the act was merely a Malaysian tradition.

“Politik memang politik, raya memang raya... perdana menteri menjemput ketua parti pembangkang dan suaminya ke ruma terbuka, tak usahlah politikkan perkara mcm ini,” he said.

[Translation: Politics will be politics, Raya will be Raya.. the prime minister invited the opposition leader and her husband to the open house does not have to be politicised.]

However, others were not amused.

Facebook user Nor Ainon Jusi said one could only laugh at the invitation, describing it as “strange and miraculous” and looked keen to comment further but decided against it, saying in Malay “if want to comment further...fear block on FB”.

Another Facebook user Hee Heng Lee said the better move would have been to allow Anwar to return home to celebrate Raya with his whole family as it would be “more meaningful”.

Most of the Facebook commentators cast aspersions on the invitation and were pointed in their criticism of the prime minister for extending the invitation to a political foe stuck behind bars, believing the move to be false and a further attempt to entrap Anwar.

“Dia ajak je. tapi tak bagi keluar penjara pun. raya pun nak menipu najib nih,” Nizam Ahamad wrote on Anwar’s Facebook page in reply.

[Translation: He invited. But didn’t allow to get out of jail. Even on Raya, Najib wants to bluff.]

Md Lami told Anwar that attendance was not compulsory, adding in Malay that it was likely to reduce the people’s anger towards Umno.

“Ada udang sebalik batu..umno tetap wajibdiundurkan… dato anwar hanya perlu ucap terima kasih pada pm...” he said, using a Malay idiom that means there was a hidden agenda in the invitation and advising Anwar to just thank the PM.

Anwar, 65, was convicted of sodomy and sentenced to five years in prison by the Federal Court in February this year.

His health has been failing and last week he was warded at the Hospital Kuala Lumpur for an assortment of ills, including fluctuating blood pressure and shoulder and kidney pains.