Legal to jump ship from Barisan to Pakatan, says ex-MP on Anwar bid to capture Putrajaya
V. Anbalagan, The Malaysian Insider
A former MP said he was not offered money or position when Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s representatives approached him to cross over and bring down the Barisan Nasional government in 2008.
Datuk Mohd Puad Zarakashi, testifying in a defamation suit brought by the opposition leader against Kimanis MP Datuk Seri Anifah Aman, said Datuk Saifuddin Nasution Ismail and Dr Abdul Rahim Ghouse did not make such an offer when they met him on separate occasions in Taiwan and Batu Pahat.
“Yes, there was no offer of money or position by Saifuddin and Rahim,” said the former Batu Pahat MP when cross-examined by lawyer Razlan Hadri Zulkifli, who is appearing for Anwar.
Puad, who lost his Batu Pahat seat to a PKR candidate in last year’s general election, said it was also not wrong in law for MPs to be enticed to jump ship when BN captured power in Perak.
“I agree that it is not wrong for BN MPs to be persuaded to cross over to Pakatan Rakyat based on what happened in Perak,” he said.
In February 2009, the Pakatan Rakyat state government collapsed when three assemblymen from PKR and DAP became BN-friendly independents.
BN came back to power when it had a majority of 31 seats in the 59-member state assembly.
Anifah, who is foreign affairs minister, is alleged to have uttered defamatory words about Anwar during a news conference in Washington with former United States secretary of state Hillary Clinton.
He had told reporters that Anwar had offered him the post of deputy prime minister if he brought MPs from Sabah to topple the BN government, which had won 140 seats in the 2008 general election.
In his statement of claim, Anwar alleged that Anifah’s claims were baseless, unfounded and grossly negligent and had been widely reported in the local and foreign media.
Puad, who was then the BN Backbenchers Club vice-chairman, said 30 MPs went on a study tour to Taiwan just before September 16, 2008 to see for themselves how agro tourism was carried out in the island.
“The other reason for being in Taiwan was to see how many BN MPs were going to cross over to PR,” he said.
Puad said that those who did not join in the trip were prime suspects of defecting.
When Razlan pointed out that Anifah, Khairy Jamaluddin (Rembau MP), Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed (Pulai) , Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz (Padang Rengas), Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (Bagan Datoh) and Tan Sri Shahrir Abdul Samad (Johor Baru) were not part of the tour, Puad said PKR’s focus was on the backbenchers.
“We left the country not to be harassed and to break contact from Anwar’s agents,” he added.
However, Puad said Saifuddin, was also in Taiwan during that time, contacted and spoke to him for about 10 minutes through the hotel phone.
“He persuaded me to join Anwar, but did not make any financial offer nor did he promise positions,” he said.
