Anwar's 'letter of caution' on Citizens Declaration internal matter, says Wan Azizah

PETALING JAYA: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has cautioned the opposition to be wary in any alliance with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's Citizen’s Declaration initiative.

The former Opposition leader, who is serving a five-year jail sentence in the Sungai Buloh prison for sodomy, said they should steer clear of the "slick schemes" of the powerful elites who want to retain an outdated system.

"I am apprehensive, assuming that this strategy is a little overboard and threatens our struggle,” Anwar said in an eight-page handwritten bi-lingual letter that was released on Monday.

Anwar said their input for the Declaration was only included in the last minute at the insistence of civil society leaders and even then they were only embellishments.

"In principle, it is a Tun M document, defective, and not in line in the context of reform,” he said adding that the document only seemed to focus on the removal of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

Anwar added that his stand is the same as an initiative by Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah to collect signed statutory declarations (SD) in their retraction of support for Najib.

He said that in their desperation to change the leadership, they gave their commitment but that became an embarrassment when Razaleigh himself denied his involvement in it.

“Do not be fooled into thinking that the disparaging remarks about Tun M’s injustices during his reign will endear him to systemic change,” said Anwar adding that the former prime minister was very focused on his agenda.

Anwar also criticised those who have pressured his wife Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and daughter Nurul Izzah Anwar to meet Dr Mahathir and attend his programmes.

Dr Wan Azizah, who is PKR president, has described the letter as an "an internal issue raised by Datuk Seri."

"It's an internal matter and he was just asking them to be careful," she told reporters at Parliament lobby.

The party whip, Datuk Johari Abdul, said it was left to the "individual discretion" of party members whether they were supportive of the declaration.

He said some leaders have always been against Dr Mahathir since the time he was prime minister and they have refrained from signing the declaration.

"They have been there since PKR started and reformasi. They saw Tun Mahathir as the prime minister and they still cannot get over that, so they stayed away from supporting it.

"That's okay, there are others who support it as well," he said.

Nurul Izzah said she need not disclose the matter to the public as it was "a part of the internal process to deliberate on the matter."

DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang refused to comment, saying he would release a statement on it "when it's appropriate".

PAS lawmaker Nasruddin Hassan Tantawi said that the matter was not an issue and the Islamist party "is not getting involved."