Better that I drop out of leadership race than risk having party deregistered, says Anwar
Rather than give the Registrar of Societies (RoS) an excuse to deregister his party, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim opted out of the PKR leadership race.
The opposition leader said he had been warned that "Umno was looking for an excuse to deregister PKR and they could use my election for just that. The registrar is under Umno".
His withdrawal, announced by party election committee director Datuk Johari Abdul on Tuesday, meant Anwar's wife and incumbent PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail retained the position.
Johari said the opposition leader had sent his letter withdrawing from the race last week.
“Our plan has always been either me or Azizah. She is the incumbent. I would like to contest but they warned me about the registrar.
“They told me that the registrar could just say 'look, you have flouted this rule so we are going to deregister you'. That's the reason why I have to back down,” Anwar said at the Reformasi 2.0 rally in Kuching last night.
Anwar said his first thought was that he would be the only one penalised if he failed to overturn his sodomy conviction.
“(If I am the only one) to be penalised, that to me is a small matter. If it's deregistration (of PKR), then it’s another matter altogether.”
Anwar said his legal advisors had also told him to see “what they (RoS) have done to DAP”.
The Pakatan Rakyat coalition partner is under threat of deregistration after the RoS ruled that their party election was irregular.
Last Monday, party secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution said: “Politically, he (Anwar) wants to lead the party as party president. However, the verdict is a legal barrier.”
Last month, Anwar was found guilty of sodomising his former aide, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, and sentenced to five years’ jail.
He is currently out on an RM10,000 bail after obtaining a stay of execution. – April 24, 2014.
