Anwar to Umno: I’m ready for battle
(Free Malaysia Today) – In his first public remarks since being appointed as economic adviser to Selangor, Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said he would do battle “to the end” against Umno-Barisan Nasional forces bidding to destabilize and wrest power from the state’s Pakatan Rakyat government.
“I have officially now entered the ring,” Anwar said in reference to his new job. “If you try (to seize power), we will go all out and fight to the end,” Anwar said in Shah Alam when opening the state-level National Justice Party convention.
On Friday, Anwar, a former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, was appointed Selangor’s economic advisor, a job for which he will be paid a norminal salary of RM1 a month.
The appointment is to help the state government formulate new economic initiatives as well as improve the implementation of existing policies that directly and holistically benefit people.
Anwar used the convention to galvanise party members into ensuring the state remained in opposition control despite simmering diffirences within Pakatan ranks which, according to insiders, the coalition has been able to contain so far.
Prime Minister Najib Razak, who recently took over as Selangor Umno chief, has made public his party’s intention to retake Malaysia’s most developed state by the next general elections.
The Selangor state government has since become a punching bag in the mainstream media on several issues, ranging from the relocation of a Hindu temple to the sale of beer in 7-Eleven outlets.
