.jpg "Parti Amanah Negara communications director Khalid Abdul Samad is seen at Parliament in Kuala Lumpur July 14, 2020. — Picture by Yusof Mat Isa")
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 2 — Parti Amanah Negara has denied a recent news report claiming the party has given Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim a week to oust Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, calling it untrue.
Its communications director Khalid Abdul Samad said the article is intended to worsen Amanah’s ties with Anwar.
“For the party, the position of Opposition Leader and retaking the government from Perikatan Nasional (PN) are two separate issues,” he said in a statement.
Khalid said the position of the Opposition Leader is decided through discussions between Pakatan Harapan (PH) component parties, and is not the sole right or responsibility of Amanah.
“Amanah’s national committee meeting recently decided that the party appreciates Anwar’s readiness in taking responsibility for what occurred on Thursday (November 26) in the Dewan Rakyat.
“However, we have also agreed to discuss with our coalition colleagues about what should be done following the incident,” he said.
Khalid added it is not in Amanah’s culture to give ultimatums to its coalition partners.
He was responding to a report by The Malaysian Insight earlier today, which quoted anonymous party insiders as saying Anwar had been given seven days to bring down the PN administration, as was promised to Pakatan.
The purported Amanah sources said Anwar is being held responsible following PH’s failure to reject Budget 2021 during the policy approval stage on Thursday, something decided by Amanah’s supreme council during its meeting on Sunday (November 29).
The Opposition’s votes on the Budget were split during the Dewan Rakyat session, which saw several MPs calling for division voting but resulting in only 13 MPs from Amanah and Parti Pejuang Tanah Air standing up in support.
Several other MPs including Amanah president Mohamad Sabu and his deputy Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub, as well as PKR and DAP MPs, did not stand up in support.
It was later revealed that Anwar had requested that he be given time of seven days in order to prove he can obtain a majority of MPs’ support in the Dewan Rakyat, failure of which he will resign as PH president and Opposition Leader.