NIBONG TEBAL: PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has denied a claim by a former ally that he is switching to the Ampang parliamentary constituency in the 15th General Election (GE15) from Port Dickson because he is afraid to contest in a Malay-majority seat.
Saying that he had never announced his intention to contest in Ampang, Anwar alleged that the real intention behind Datuk Mohd Rashid Hasnon’s remarks was to help the incumbent Ampang MP, Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin.
“This is not the way to help Zuraida and I have never said that I want to contest in Ampang,” he said during a press conference after attending a Wanita PKR gathering here yesterday.
Anwar said it was not an issue for him to contest any seat as he was currently leading a multiracial party and had never promoted PKR as a Malay and Islam-centric party, unlike Bersatu or Umno.
On Saturday, Mohd Rashid, who is also a Perikatan Nasional exco, said Anwar was aiming to contest in Ampang in GE15 because he was afraid to face Malay voters in Port Dickson.
He said Malay voters were well aware of Pakatan Harapan’s failure as the Federal Government during its 22-month reign, and the coalition realised that it could now only rely on Chinese votes in the GE15.
Mohd Rashid also questioned Anwar’s decision in picking Ampang, which is a mixed seat with 51% Malay voters and 32% Chinese voters.
Earlier, PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar said there must be political will to allow citizenship to be automatically conferred to children born to Malaysian mothers with foreign spouses.
She said the nation’s top executive authorities, such as the Attorney General and Home Minister, could help ease the passage of such a proposal to be tabled in Parliament so that it could be made into law.
“We have always been consistent in supporting these rights and we hope they can be made into law. However, at the same time, there must be political will to make it a reality,” she said.
