KUALA LUMPUR, April 8 — PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has called the leaked recording of a purported conversation with his Umno counterpart Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi slanderous.
The Malaysian Insight reported the Opposition Leader as saying that it was the latest ploy by “some elements in the government leadership” to damage the ties between Pakatan Harapan component parties after their recent attempt to buy support from the Opposition bloc failed.
“Obviously, there is an attempt at slander, engineered more sophisticatedly so that in Keadilan (PKR) people will ask... DAP or Amanah will ask questions.
“Fortunately, we are loyal friends, and won’t easily be shaken by slander like this,” he was quoted as saying during a PKR event in Shah Alam last night.
Anwar further alleged that the release of the audio recording was a tactic by Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) to bring down Umno after the latter announced it plans to cease cooperating with the former once the general election is called.
“It seems it was to use us to counter Umno politics. Trying to use my conversation with Datuk Seri Zahid for Bersatu politics, to deal a blow to the Umno leadership.
“That is not my job. This is why I will ask my aides to lodge a police report. Let them (police) investigate who is behind this,” Anwar said.
Yesterday, an audio clip of two individuals with voices resembling that of Anwar and Zahid was leaked on the internet.
The four-minute clip was first posted on Facebook and started with Zahid’s speech during the recent 2020 Umno General Assembly, in which he said the party would not accept Anwar, DAP or Bersatu as allies.
In response, Zahid issued a statement yesterday decrying the clip as fake, adding that he was “disappointed and shocked” by its release, while claiming it was a plot to destroy Umno.
