Opposition should thank Anwar, not try to replace him - Xavier

KUALA LUMPUR: Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim should not be blamed for the failure of the opposition to block the 2021 Budget in the Dewan Rakyat, said PKR Vice President, Datuk Dr Xavier Jayakumar.

In a statement today, the Kuala Langat Member of Parliament said from the time the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government was overthrown by a group of traitorous individuals, the leaders of PH had been planning to re-take the government.

In this aspect, he added, the person who played the most important and aggressive role, taking the fight to Perikatan Nasional (PN) was none other than Anwar.

“He was the sole leader who took it upon himself to fight and bring down the PN government.

“We should all be praising and thanking him for doing this, as he was the only one putting his neck out to achieve what all the other members of Pakatan Harapan (PH) were hoping for.

“Imagine if he had succeeded, everyone would all be rejoicing and enjoying the fruits of his labour,” he added.

Dr Xavier also questioned why put the blame on Anwar solely as the Budget vote was lost in Parliament.

“What about some of the other parties, who abstained from voting during the committee stages?

“If we had shown unity with all in attendance, many of the ministries’ budget votes would have been lost by PN,” he added.

He said the people need to understand that the PH government downfall was not because of Anwar, but due to Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s unilateral decision to resign as prime minister without consulting other PH leaders.

“This was after we gave him a chance to join us in making those changes. His party was a minority in the government, even then we gave him the opportunity to become prime minister and yet he failed to deliver.

“Well, enough is enough. We in Harapan must move on.

“I would say thank you to Anwar, for trying to bring back the people’s mandate.

“We need to remember that we live in extraordinary times and this means that extraordinary measures need to be taken to save the nation,” he said.

Dr Xavier also stressed that Malaysia is in a position of transition in terms of politics and no one party will be able to govern without a coalition as what is happening to the PN government.

“Umno is holding them at ransom and they will get whatever they ask for, along with PAS. This is when the people will see a rise in corruption. Our institutions of government will sidestep the rule of law to satisfy the greed of their political masters.

“We are already seeing this now, and it will continue to happen until a more stable government is put in place.

“We need to put aside our enmity and find ways to move forward to stabilise the nation,” he said.