Anwar refuses to name the 40 BN MPs in Pakatan crossover
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim told the High Court today that he will not name the 40 Barisan Nasional MPs who were willing to cross over to Pakatan Rakyat in 2008, saying it would be unfair to reveal them now.
Under cross-examination by counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, Anwar also denied the suggestion that he did not have the numbers he claimed he had to move a motion of no-confidence against former prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in the September 16 move six years ago.
Anwar testified that he had written to the prime minister at that time asking him to convene a special parliamentary sitting to test if he commands the confidence of the majority of MPs.
Anwar was testifying in his defamation suit against Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman.
Anwar said Anifah had linked his name to an alleged offer of a top cabinet post during a news conference in Washington with former United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Shafee: One of the methods you employed was to say you have got the numbers when in actual fact you did not?
Anwar: If I did not have the numbers, I would not have written to the prime minister asking him to convene a special parliamentary sitting.
Shafee: Another strategy you used was to make promises to leading BN MPs that if they crossed over, you can make them ministers and deputy prime minister?
Anwar: I do not agree.
Shafee: I put it to you that because your strategy was based on facts that did not exist, you kept postponing September 16 several times?
Anwar: I disagree.
Anwar had previously testified that after the 2008 general election, there was resentment not only in the peninsula, but also in Sabah and Sarawak, where there was support for Pakatan.
Anwar said many were not happy with Abdullah Badawi, which was how the September 16 plan was hatched, when some BN MPs agreed to support him in a motion of no-confidence against the prime minister.
Today, Shafee asked Anwar to list the names of the BN MPs who had agreed to support him, saying that it was necessary to test the opposition leader's credibility.
Anwar said he would not produce the list as it would be unfair to reveal the names now.
Shafee: We want to know who among the 40 wanted to join you?
Anwar: We wrote to the PM to convene a special sitting and I would not have done that if I did not have the numbers but he did not reply to the letter. The test was supposed to be in Parliament, not in this court.
He further testified that during his phone conversation with Anifah which was facilitated by a mutual friend named Tony Voon, Anifah had expressed his willingness to support Pakatan in a motion of no-confidence against the prime minister.
During re-examination by his own lawyer, Razlan Hadri, he was asked again for the reason he did not want to reveal the names of the BN MPs who wanted to cross over in 2008.
Anwar said that he did not think it was critical to this defamation suit, adding that he would not have embarrassed himself and Pakatan Rakyat by asking the PM to convene a special sitting if he did not have the numbers.
Anwar's legal team closed the plaintiff's case today as Anwar was the sole witness.
High Court judicial commissioner Siti Khadijah S. Hassan Badjenid fixed Friday for case management. – August 27, 2014.
