After viral support letter, Umno supreme council member Annuar Musa says Allah forbids disunity

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 18 — Umno supreme council member Tan Sri Annuar Musa today stressed the need for unity and even cited Allah as forbidding division.

Annuar, who is also Barisan Nasional (BN) secretary-general, indicated that staying united was important for Muslim and Malay strength.

“Insyaallah… we realise unity and consensus is not easy. Allah forbids us from being divided. We are commanded to keep faith with Islam. Therefore Allah reminds us that we will lose our strength if we are divided. We should discuss with patience so that Muslims and Malays are strong,” he wrote on Twitter earlier today.

While Annuar did not directly explain or elaborate further on his Twitter account, his tweet was made in reference to PAS party mouthpiece Harakah Daily regarding an article on PAS continuing to uphold the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government while also continuing to cooperate with Umno via Muafakat Nasional (MN).

The PN federal government is currently composed of various parties such as Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), PAS and Umno.

Shortly before this tweet, Annuar had also commented on a purported letter which claimed that a certain number of Umno MPs had allegedly rescinded their support for Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin who is leading the PN government and were purportedly backing PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to be prime minister.

In his comment, Annuar urged MPs under BN — which includes Umno — to act cohesively as a party instead of acting unilaterally, also stating his objection towards Anwar.

“True or fake is up to the creator of the letter. However I invite the 43 BN MP friends, don’t play with the feeling of wanting to continue to be divided. We remain with the party policy... always en bloc… NO ANWAR, NO DAP... don’t act alone. We uphold the PARTY POLICY as entrusted,” he had written on Twitter.

The letter which Annuar was commenting on had carried Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s name as the purported author of the letter, and had allegedly contained both Zahid’s and former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s signatures.

Umno executive secretary Datuk Mohd Sumali Reduan reportedly denied that the party had issued such a letter, claiming it was done to damage the reputation of the party and its president Zahid.

Anwar, who leads the Pakatan Harapan coalition, has in recent weeks claimed to have the support of over 120 MPs in the 222-member Dewan Rakyat, which is enough to oust Muhyiddin as prime minister and bring about a change of government.

Anwar was granted an audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on Tuesday, but political speculation has subsequently continued as the palace has since said that the Agong did not receive a list with the names of the MPs said to support Anwar.