Hassan defends PM’s senior aide over ‘election night drama’

 

FMT:

Hassan defends PM’s

senior aide over ‘election

night drama’

Nora Mahpar

-16 Oct 2024, 08:45 PM

The PKR MP urges his party to respect what Shamsul Iskandar Akin said while preparing to face any backlash it may cause.

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PKR’s Hassan Karim (left) said his party colleague Shamsul Iskandar Akin was an experienced politician who was simply being honest about what transpired two years ago.

PETALING JAYA: 

PKR’s Hassan Karim has urged his party to respect Shamsul Iskandar Akin’s revelation that he stopped pushing for a recount in Bagan Datuk in the last general election (GE15) on PKR president Anwar Ibrahim’s orders.

While Shamsul’s revelation may cause issues for PKR, Hassan said the former Hang Tuah Jaya MP was an experienced politician who was simply being honest about what transpired two years ago.

“Let’s respect what Shamsul said while preparing to face any effect it may cause. Be bold since it’s the truth. If his remarks do cause problems on the side, there’s no need to panic. We can face it calmly.

PKR and its leadership can do damage control, but they should not lie. Shamsul isn’t a newbie or an amateur. He has extensive experience and is now Anwar’s right-hand man,

 the two-term Pasir Gudang MP told FMT.

He was responding to PKR secretary-general Fuziah Salleh’s reprimand of Shamsul, the senior political secretary to Anwar, over his revelation.

Earlier today, Fuziah said it was inappropriate for Shamsul to give his own narrative of what happened after GE15 led to a hung Parliament.

She insisted that the Anwar-led administration was only formed following the then Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s call for a unity government to be established.

In a recent podcast, Shamsul said he had intended to call for a recount in the race for the Bagan Datuk seat as he had only lost to Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi by 348 votes, while there were 800 spoilt votes.

He said he was persuaded by a 2.30am phone call from Anwar who told him not to proceed as he was informed that Barisan Nasional had agreed to join forces with Pakatan Harapan to form the government.

Zahid stated on Nov 23 that he was informed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, in an audience at Istana Negara that afternoon, that BN must be part of a unity government to be formed.

Pundits have warned that Shamsul’s remarks could affect ties with the other unity government components, particularly Umno.

However, Hassan said the issue was unlikely to flare up in a way that would tarnish the cooperation within the unity government.

He believed that all components of the federal government wanted to move on from past matters now that they have been governing the nation together for two years.