By Rahmah Ghazali
KUALA LUMPUR: Former PKR-turned-independent MP Zahrain Mohd Hashim was once again thrust into the spotlight over his outburst against Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim.
However, this time around, it was Anwar's turn who was at bat as he accused Zahrain for his "insincere" claims of friendship and “hypocritical” stance on supposedly defending the Malays.
Relating his experience when Zahrain first broke into the opposition political scene, Anwar claimed that he and Zahrain have never been good friends as alleged by the latter previously.
"From 1998 to 2006, we never talked to each other but now he said we were good friends. He has never been this outspoken in the House when he talks about Malay rights before; now he says he is fighting for them.
"If he is truly my good friend, he should have at least visited me in jail and attended any of my children's wedding reception," Anwar said in Parliament.
Anwar's attack on his former colleague started when Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nazri Abdul Aziz was winding up his speech on the royal address, when he touched the alleged takeover attempt on Sept 16, 2008, as revealed by Zahrain three weeks ago.
In his speech, Nazri accused Anwar of "stealing" Barisan Nasional MPs in order to form a new government two years ago.
But Anwar rebutted, saying that he would never steal them and that he had only made an "open invitation" to all his friends on the other side of the political divide.
He also reiterated that the Sept 16 takeover plan was done according to the federal constitution, where the last avenue was to seek the Yang di-Pertuan Agong's consent.
"First, I sent a letter to the then prime minister (Abdullah Ahmad Badawi) to seek a meeting but that was rejected. Then I wrote a letter to the Speaker but this was not entertained. The third time, I wrote a letter to the King.
"But I felt strange because Bayan Baru would not know all this as he was not in Kuala Lumpur at that time. He was just a small leader in Penang," said Anwar.
At this juncture, Zahrain accused Anwar of "lying", which Anwar replied tongue-in-cheek: "You are a big guy, with a small heart.”
Nazri defends Zahrain, challenges Anwar
Three weeks ago, during the first week of Parliament's session, Zahrain dropped a bombshell in the Dewan Rakyat, claiming that Anwar had "lied" about the Sept 16 takeover and he had resigned from PKR following the loss of confidence in his (Anwar's) leadership.
Today, following attacks against Zahrain, Nazri stood up to defend him, arguing that "someone should not judge him based on his speech in Parliament only.
"I believe Bayan Baru has done a fantastic job in his constituency although he was silent in the Dewan Rakyat before," he said.
Nazri also refuted Anwar's claim that the opposition had never intended to "steal" the BN representatives as the ruling coalition consisted of 140 MPs then compared with the opposition's 82.
"How is it possible for them to table a vote of no confidence in the prime minister when they had fewer MPs than ours? That is why I said, they tried to steal our representatives," he said and challenged Anwar to reveal the BN representatives who were supposed to defect.
Anwar refused but insisted that he had the number of the BN representatives who were supportive of the takeover plan.
"Otherwise, I would not have the guts to write all the letters," he said.
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