Nazri admits signing SD supporting Anwar in bid to 'save Umno'

Nazri admits signing SD supporting Anwar in bid to 'save Umno'


Padang Rengas MP Nazri Abdul Aziz confirmed that he had once signed a statutory declaration (SD) supporting PKR president Anwar Ibrahim to become the prime minister.

The Umno lawmaker said he had agreed to do so in order to save Umno from being dissolved by the government at the time.

Nazri claimed that when Dr Mahathir Mohamad was the prime minister under the Pakatan Harapan administration, the Langkawi MP was determined to get rid of Umno.

Therefore, he said he needed to find a way to save the party.

“My chance then was Anwar, whom Mahathir should have handed power to after two years as the prime minister. So I went to see Anwar to ask the government not to dissolve Umno.

“I was happy when he said ‘Umno is Pak Ibrahim’s (Anwar’s father) party, so I will not dissolve it’.

“Hence when Umno wanted to retract its support from (then prime minister) Muhyiddin Yassin, I immediately discussed with the other Umno lawmakers to sign an SD in support of Anwar,” he said to Malaysiakini.

Muhyiddin Yassin

Nazri had previously been asked to explain the viral SD letter which was signed by him in support of Anwar as prime minister.

That letter had gone viral around the same time when Umno ordered all its parliamentarians to withdraw their support for Muhyiddin, who is also the Bersatu president.

On Sept 23, 2020, Anwar held a press conference and claimed that he had “strong and formidable” numbers supporting which would enable him to replace Muhyiddin as the prime minister.

He later had an audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on October 13 and presented the documents which allegedly contained details of the required majority of parliamentarians’ support.

However, at the time, Comptroller of the Royal Household for Istana Negara Ahmad Fadil Shamsuddin said Anwar did not present the list of parliamentarians who he claimed supported him.

Muhyiddin wanted Umno gone too

Malaysiakini had earlier sighted three SDs purportedly from three Umno leaders in support of Anwar as the prime minister.

Aside from Nazri, the other two leaders are Pasir Salak MP Tajuddin Abdul Rahman and former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak.

Najib Abdul Razak

The SDs, which appeared to have been signed on Nov 20, 2020, in Petaling Jaya, also had the three leaders withdrawing their support for Muhyiddin.

Nazri said the decision to retract their support for Muhyiddin was because the Pagoh MP had taken similar steps as Mahathir in wanting to dissolve Umno.

“After we realised Muhyiddin was the same as Mahathir, we decided to take back our support.

“Besides me, Najib and Tajuddin, Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Ahmad Jazlan Yaakub (Machang) signed the SD supporting Anwar and retracting our support from Muhyiddin,” he said.

When asked about the other MPs who did not do the same, Nazri described them as “cowards”.

“The others are all cowards, thinking about their own position, posts and interests.

“I was thinking about my party’s interest and my loyalty to the party. I want to save my party, that is why I supported Anwar.

“Being loyal to the party, that is what is most important to me,” Nazri said.