KUALA LUMPUR, July 21 — A visibly aggravated Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim told off members of the press gathered at his house here tonight, and warned them against sensationalising a zikir held at the same time as one attended by Datuk Seri Azmin Ali in Shah Alam amid a feud between the two.
“I am annoyed, do you understand?” The PKR president said in a stern voice as reporters approached him, seemingly for comments on why Azmin is absent.
“I don’t want you to record this do you understand? I don’t like this to be sensationalised when I have been organising this every week,” Anwar added.
A small group of reporters had assembled at Anwar’s resident in Segambut Dalam here following news that a zikir would be held.
A zikir is often held as a sign of gratitude where either family members or members of the community gather to pray and recite the Quran.
As a Muslim, the wealthier the person is the more he or she is encouraged to hold a bigger gathering, typically with food served to the poor.
Anwar said he has held such gathering for years, and maintained that is in no way related to the ongoing discord with his deputy Azmin.
Azmin is currently in Shah Alam, where another prayer gathering is being held.
His supporter claim the gathering is meant to offer thanks to God after the police cleared the economic affairs minister from the sex video scandal said to be at the centre of the feud with Anwar.
Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Hamid Bador said a day ago that facial recognition technology failed to identify the two persons in several sex clips that implicated Azmin, although the video was said to be authentic.
The police chief also said a leader of a political party was behind the entire affair, and had poured thousands of ringgit on the video with the intention of defaming the PKR deputy president.
The police has so far kept mum about whether or not the said leader would be arrested and charged.
Anwar has vehemently denied allegations that he was the mastermind.
