KUALA LUMPUR – Anwar Ibrahim left Istana Negara at 11:30am today, about an hour after he had entered its gate to meet and convince the King of his latest bid to take over Putrajaya.
He was seen waving to the press while being chauffeured in a black Jaguar.
His departure was followed by boisterous chants of "Reformasi" by a group of supporters a few metres away from the gate.
The commotion was however short-lived as the police ordered the loud hails be called off.
The PKR president had arrived at the palace’s second gate at 10.20am today.
Anwar’s audience with Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah, was announced two weeks after he dropped a bombshell about a supposed “collapse” of Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s government.
He had claimed on September 23 to have a “formidable” majority with backing of Umno MPs, among others. The list was said to have 15 MPs, but it eventually grew to 20 and later denied by those named in it on social media.
Palace officials had earlier distributed McDonald's burgers and coffee to journalists and photographers who have been camping outside the gate under the sun since 8am.
LIVE: PKR president Anwar Ibrahim to arrive at Istana Negara, scheduled to have audience today with Yang Di-Pertuan Agong More on thevibes.com
Posted by The Vibes on Monday, October 12, 2020
This is not Anwar’s first attempt to topple the government by claiming to have sufficient support.
On September 16, 2008, he urged then PM Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to peacefully resign within two weeks, alleging that the latter had lost the majority support of parliamentarians.
While nothing happened back then, Anwar’s latest bid has apparently generated much speculation.
The peculiar position opted by Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi – the president of Umno which is the lynchpin party in Barisan Nasional and also a component in the Muhyiddin’s Perikatan Nasional administration – has also added much gravitas to Anwar’s claim.
Zahid had last week maintained that Umno will not rein any of its MPs if they want to support Anwar’s takeover.
If Anwar succeeds, this will be the second time that Malaysia has a change in government this year following the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan government in late February.
Anwar has said that he would be presenting his evidence of parliamentary support to the king.
“During the audience with Agong, I will present documentation of the strong and convincing majority of MPs as I have mentioned earlier,” he had said.
Anwar’s statement comes two weeks after he first claimed that he had majority support of the Dewan Rakyat to form a new government. - The Vibes, October 13, 2020
