Umno will stick to its playbook of lodging police reports to tie up its political foes, this time against Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, for allegedly using the name of the King in his Sept 16 power grab two years ago.
The Selangor and FT Umno Youth has said it will make the first of a flurry of reports against Anwar for sedition this morning after party leaders left it to the police to investigate the Opposition Leader’s alleged actions revealed by Bayan Baru MP Datuk Seri Zahrain Hashim in Parliament last week.
“The police report is likely to made after the Prime Minister’s statement,” an Umno leader told The Malaysian Insider last night, referring to the Umno Youth report to be lodged today.
The leader, who asked for anonymity, was unsure how many other reports would be lodged but signalled it would follow the pattern of reports made against DAP national chairman Karpal Singh when he declared the royalty could be brought to court.
There is already a call for Anwar to be investigated under the Sedition Act for allegedly affecting public order by linking the King to his ambitious bid to capture Putrajaya after Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) historic gains of four more states and 82 federal seats in Election 2008.
The Malaysian Insider understands that the first report will be made following statements by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his deputy, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, both Umno president and deputy president respectively, that Anwar can be hauled by the authorities over Zahrain’s claims.
The former PKR member told Parliament last week that Anwar indicated the King and armed forces chief would support his bid to be prime minister if he could show backing among enough Barisan Nasional (BN) MPs. Zahrain also named eight BN lawmakers who had agreed to jump to PR.
Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, the Home Minister and Umno vice-president, said the claims was enough for Anwar to be investigated under the Sedition Act.
It is learnt that a few non-govermental organisations have also indicated they will lodge reports against Anwar, similar to those over issues related to religion and position of the Malay Rulers.
A total of 103 police reports were made against Karpal, a prominent lawyer, for allegedly making a seditious statement against the Perak sultan when the state was in a political crisis last year.
Police recently received 45 complaints against Najib’s former special aide Datuk Nasir Safar for allegedly making racial slurs that insulted the non-Malays.
Police can launch investigations if a report is made, even by its own personnel.
Najib yesterday said the authorities can determine if laws were broken in the claims made against the opposition leader.
“It is up to the authorities, They can see if anything should be done, From the aspect of investigations, maybe some laws have been broken. I leave it to the authorities,” the prime minister said when commenting on Zahrain’sclaims.
No one has yet to corroborate Zahrain’s claims but former Armed Forces chief Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Zainal denied Anwar’s claims that the force would back his 2008 bid to form a government.
Hishammuddin said the Home Ministry would leave it to the Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail to look into Zahrain’s claims, adding Anwar can also be referred to the parliament’s privileges committee for the Permatang Pauh MP’s claims that APCO Worldwide consultancy engaged to improve Malaysia’s image is behind the 1 Israel slogan.
Anwar had told parliament the agency wad led by a former Israeli ambassador to the United States and in 1999 was an adviser to the Zionist regime. Links to Israel is an abhorrent charge in Malaysia which has no diplomatic relations with the Middle East country.
courtesy of Malaysian Insider
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