“PMX’s aide Sam not spilling the beans; he’s subtly reminding Zahid never to cross the line”
THE so-called admission by Datuk Seri Shamsul Iskandar Akin, the senior political secretary to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, that the latter gave him a late-night phone call not to challenge Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s razor-thin GE15 victory in Bagan Datuk could be intended as a well-timed reminder directed at the UMNO president.
This is contrary to popular public perception that the slip of tongue by Shamsul who contested under the PKR banner of which Anwar is the party president could be a contentious point as this runs afoul of the Elections Act 1958 (Revised 1970) or the Election Offences Act 1954 thus may warrant a probe by the Elections Commission.
Such is the opinion of an old-time political observer who further described Shamsul’s statement as a message to Zahid who is also the Deputy Prime Minister in Anwar’s Madani Cabinet to be “eternally grateful to the Pakatan Harapan (PH) head honcho”.
“Tapi Sam kita nak tubuh kerajaan”
Bekas calon PH Bagan Datuk kini Ketua Setiausaha Politik PM kongsi detik menerima panggilan telefon dan arahan dari DSAI jam 2.30am pada 20 November 2022 untuk tidak mencabar proses kiraan undi & kemenangan tipis lawannya iaitu Presiden UMNO.
“Sam (referring to Shamsul) is both a lawyer and seasoned politician, not a greenhorn politician,” he told FocusM on condition of anonymity.
“He even has the reputation of being a giant slayer by defeating former Melaka chief minister and UMNO strongman Tun Mohd Ali Rustam (now Melaka governor) not once but twice in GE13 (2013) and GE 14 (2018) respectively,
“A more likely scenario could be that both Sam and Anwar consulted each other to script Sam’s recount of the duo’s phone conversation”.
To recap, Shamsul polled 16,230 votes against the Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman’s 16,578 in the 15th General Election (GE15), thus enabling the latter to retain his Bagan Datuk parliamentary seat for the seventh successive term albeit with the slimmest of majority.
Shamsul who has wanted to proceed with a recount due to razor thin margin and the very fact that there were 800 spoilt votes had changed his mind following a 2.30am phone call from Anwar who convinced him about the prospect of PH and BN forming a government together.
Shamsul nevertheless admitted that he first doubted Anwar’s claim when he was told that PH would get support through Zahid.
“I don’t want a repeat of the past when we were played out. People were mocking him, calling him ‘PM-in-waiting’ and such. This time we wanted to make it happen,” the former Hang Tuah Jaya MP told the “Apa Cerita?” podcast.
“And he (Anwar) said, ‘Yes Sam, we are forming the government’.”
Eventually, Shamsul followed Anwar’s instruction to concede defeat in Bagan Datuk because he wanted to put the party above himself.
“I don’t want a repeat of the past when we were played out. People were mocking him, calling him ‘PM-in-waiting’ and such. This time we wanted to make it happen,” the former Hang Tuah Jaya MP told the “Apa Cerita?” podcast.
“And he (Anwar) said, ‘Yes Sam, we are forming the government’.”
Eventually, Shamsul followed Anwar’s instruction to concede defeat in Bagan Datuk because he wanted to put the party above himself.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (left) with Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (Image credit: Facebook/Anwar Ibrahim)
“As I said before, you cannot have two generals in war. The general’s order must be obeyed. Of course I was sad. We worked very hard and went all out. Surely, we wanted to have our personal victory,” he added.
The rest as they said is history with Anwar having justly rewarded Shamsul by appointing him to be his lieutenant. – Oct 15, 2024
“As I said before, you cannot have two generals in war. The general’s order must be obeyed. Of course I was sad. We worked very hard and went all out. Surely, we wanted to have our personal victory,” he added.
The rest as they said is history with Anwar having justly rewarded Shamsul by appointing him to be his lieutenant. – Oct 15, 2024
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