Puad slams Amanah over its stand on royal pardon for Najib

Umno Supreme Council member Puad Zarkashi says Amanah is questioning the Agong’s discretion by asking for the royal pardon to be rejected.

(FMT) – Umno Supreme Council member Puad Zarkashi has lambasted Amanah after the party yesterday refused to retract its call for Najib Razak’s pardon application to be rejected.

In a Facebook post, Puad claimed that Amanah was acting well out of order in asking for the former prime minister’s bid for a royal pardon to be rejected by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

“Amanah is the one who is questioning the Agong’s discretion.

“The party is clearly questioning the Agong’s wisdom by making that plea (for the royal pardon to be rejected),” he said, adding that this is why it was difficult for Umno to forge close ties with Amanah.

“Perhaps (Amanah) can only be a ‘friend’. A friend that doesn’t guarantee the unity government will last. A friend who stabs (us) in the back,” he said.

Yesterday, Kelantan Umno demanded that Amanah communications director Khalid Samad issue a public apology to the party for calling for Najib’s application for a royal pardon to be rejected.

The chapter’s information chief Zawawi Othman said Kelantan Umno would consider not working with Amanah for the coming state election should Khalid, who is also interim Kelantan Amanah chairman, refuse to retract his statement.

In response, Khalid said there was no need for him to apologise or retract any statements as he was only conveying the party’s stance on the matter.

He also said he believed Umno understood its priorities and would not halt cooperating with Amanah in the state elections.

Meanwhile, Permatang Pauh Umno chief Zaidi Said also slammed Amanah over their comments on Najib’s bid for a royal pardon.

He said Najib as a Malaysian citizen had the right to seek a royal pardon and this right should not be disputed by anyone, not even Khalid.

“Najib has proven that he respects the letter of the law and has followed due process up to this second,” he said.

Najib is serving a 12-year sentence and was fined RM210 million after being convicted of charges of abuse of power, money laundering and criminal breach of trust (CBT) over SRC International funds amounting to RM42 million.