KUALA LUMPUR, April 7 ― An audio clip of two speakers whose voices resemble that of Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and his PKR counterpart, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, is circulating on the internet.
The four-minute clip was first posted on Facebook and started with Zahid’s speech in the recent 2020 Umno General Assembly where he said the party would not accept Anwar, DAP and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu).
It was followed with an audio recording believed to be of a phone conversation, with the speaker who sounded like Anwar praising his opposite over the speech.
“I've been following the Umno General Assembly for 22 years, I saw a good 'you' speech, 'you' had a 'mention' of MT (Supreme Council), then 'end off point' we wanted to 'finish the game', but if 'you' have thought about the mandate, it's OK to just have a little work with MT,” said the person sounding like Anwar.
The speaker who sounded like Zahid said the speech was tactically easy as he received a strong mandate from Umno delegates.
“You know who my teacher is. My teacher who taught this speech is the person I am talking to,” he said.
The speaker sounding like Anwar replied that discussions between PKR and Umno will continue and that the Umno assembly speech was also discussed by the PKR central leadership council (MPP)
“It's just that people who don't know the background of DAP are worried ... but when they reach the 'conclusion', it's much better than the MT decision. Before this, they waited for the election but this is not the case, at any time,” he said.
The two also talked about was the Perlis Umno chairman Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim who was rejected by the delegates when he spoke at the assembly.
The person who sounded like Anwar then said he had hoped that an Umno minister would resign after the assembly but this did not happen.
“It's just that no minister resigned, no one is brave, only Perak, Shamsul (Datuk Dr. Shamsul Anuar Nasarah), if he can (resign), if he said ‘I (Shamsul) respect the mood of the assembly, I am an Umno person, I obey’ ... take it, but it doesn't matter who we see,” he said.
Towards the end, the same speaker said their efforts would continue.
“It's just that now it's not over .. we have a little more .. if you can face the meaning you have an 'emergency' MT you know, I'm afraid you won't be able to answer like now,” he said.
He then thanked the person sounding like Zahid and jokingly asked him to tell Zahid’s wife, Datin Sero Hamidah Khamis, that her husband made him proud.
“Alhamdulillah, tell Midah (Hamidah), this is the first time that Anwar is proud,” he said before the clip ended.
Last month, Anwar disclosed that his PKR and Umno have started preliminary discussions on the possibility of cooperating for the 15th general election.
Publicly, Zahid has denied this repeatedly.
