ALLIES OF Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who are serving as MPs and are part of his government have come out to deny unverified reports suggesting that they are complicit in a conspiracy to overthrow the federal administration.
Some of them have responded to speculations by stressing that their parties or they themselves are committed to giving continued backing to Anwar and his Unity Government.
An aide of Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob refuted claims by some quarters that the former prime minister is also involved in the so-called ‘Dubai Move’ to bring down and replace the present government.
His special officer Affifi Aris said that Ismail, who is the Barisan Nasional (BN) MP for Bera, recently performed his Umrah pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia and had then boarded a plane to return to Kuala Lumpur without stopping anywhere else.
He said in a Facebook post that Ismail and his family were physically well during the visit to the holy sites, and the journey had been peaceful with all political matters having been put aside during that period.
Affifi stressed that he saw for himself that Ismail had left behind all political concerns before making the journey, and that they were all focussed on performing their obligatory worship.
He added that Ismail chanced to meet Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who was also present in Medina.
In fact, the two of them coincidentally performed their ablutions close to each other, separated by only six other worshippers.
After the prayer, Ismail accosted Zahid, who is the Umno president, to greet him and shake hands.
Zahid was also deputy prime minister when Ismail led the federal government from August 2021 to October 2022.
"Don't bring up nonsense (gossip) about my boss together with the various fairy tales,” Affifi said, in reference to speculations about Ismail’s presence in the Middle East.
“Since the time he was no longer prime minister, I have seen for myself that Datuk Seri has been busy with various programmes, including leisure activities during weekends.”
He called on people serving in government to carry on with their responsibilities by having confidence in the firm mandate that the current leadership enjoys.
“Work to implement what you have sworn to do so that this Unity Government can be accepted by the people," he added.
Affifi also proffered advice to those who want to regain power in Putrajaya to wait until the next general election which is due in four years.
He said they will get their chance in attempting to take over, but they should not “trample and terminate” their brethren (who are in power now) for their political ambitions.
He said they should work on their objective in an orderly manner, adding that the present government with all the agencies has a strategy as well, and therefore it is best to wait to battle it out in the 16th general election.
'Never heard of it'
Meanwhile, federal Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri has also denied claims that she and fellow MPs from Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) had given their support for the Dubai Move.
Nancy, who is MP for Santubong, was reported by Borneo Post as saying that she has not heard anything about the conspiracy to overthrow the Unity Government.
“Never heard of it,” she was quoted as saying when asked to comment on the alleged meeting involving some MPs from PBB, BN, PAS and Bersatu in Dubai to bring down the government.
Borneo Post reported that according to the claims, PBB was offered the prime minister’s post and given an assurance of greater autonomy with up to 20 per cent oil revenue royalties to Sarawak.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof, who is senior vice-president of PBB, a component of the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) which is ruling over Sarawak, also said that he had never heard of the Dubai Move.
The Petra Jaya MP told Borneo Post that the GPS MPs “have no time to entertain political drama’ as the main priority now is to put Malaysia’s economy back on the right track.
“I don’t know. What is certain is that GPS has repeated many times that our priority is to have a stable and strong government.
“We want to focus all energy on economic recovery and serve the well-being of the people,” Fadillah was quoted as saying by the news daily.
Last Friday, Community Communications Department (J-Kom) deputy director-general Datuk Ismail Yusop had said that the Dubai Move cropped up when certain Perikatan Nasional (PN) leaders were holidaying in the UAE recently.
He claimed that a meeting took place in the country’s main city of Dubai to discuss specific duties for 'officers' responsible for identifying MPs who can be influenced to shift support to the opposition.
The intention is purportedly to set up a government through backdoor means, he added – The Vibes, January 1, 2024
