KUALA LUMPUR – DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and Amanah president Mohamad Sabu’s audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong has been postponed.
The two party leaders said they were initially summoned to have an audience with the king, Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah, at the Istana Negara today (Lim) and October 21 (Mohamad).
“However, His Majesty’s senior private secretary informed us that our sessions have been postponed,” they said in a joint statement this morning.
Both said they will respect the order from the palace.
“We pray that the Agong and the Raja Permaisuri Agong, as well as the royal family, be granted good health,” they added.
Lim and Mohamad did not elaborate why the audience was postponed.
Their statement came a day after PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah had an audience with the king at the Istana Negara.
Anwar had met the Agong yesterday morning to convince him that he had enough support from the Dewan Rakyat to form a new government.
At a 2pm press conference, Anwar said he had the backing of 120 MPs and that the list of names had been submitted to the palace, and that the king would be meeting with all heads of political parties in the coming days.
Soon after, in a statement, the palace denied Anwar’s claim, saying that the opposition leader had merely given the Agong the number of MPs who were backing him, but not the names.
At 2.40pm, Tengku Razaleigh was seen leaving the palace after meeting the Agong, although the details of the audience were scant.
Some have speculated that Tengku Razaleigh, popularly known as Ku Li, had likely himself obtained the majority parliamentary support to form government.
Meanwhile, Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan said last night that party president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi would be having an audience with the Agong tomorrow at 5pm.
It is uncertain if his audience has also been postponed. – The Vibes, October 14, 2020
