Datuk Seri with Francis Siah of MoCS
Pakatan Rakyat supremo Anwar Ibrahim has been advised to keep his distance from certain politically shady characters in Sarawak who seem to have become his advisers on Sarawak affairs in recent months.
“Some of them have wriggled their way back to Anwar after they were discarded by Sarawak BN leaders. These are people whom Anwar should be wary of,” Movement for Change, Sarawak (MoCS) leader Francis Paul Siah said in a statement here Monday.
He said MoCS has received reports of uneasiness from several PKR leaders in Sarawak who fear that Anwar would be taken for a ride by some of his self-proclaimed advisers in the state.
“They are worried that these ‘advisers’ would create dissent within the ranks of PKR and Pakatan Rakyat in the coming state election. MoCS is concerned with this development as these ‘BN discards’ could disrupt the changes advocated by the movement for Sarawak,” said Siah.
As such, MoCS has to caution Anwar to stay clear from these people whose only possible intention to be aligned with the PKR adviser is to reap the rewards from a future Pakatan government, he said.
“These people are political parasites and they must not be given any role in Sarawak politics at all. At the drop of a hat, these parasites will dump political allegiance to go and chase the filthy lucre of politics wherever it can be found. We should be able to pre-empt their ulterior motives,” Siah cautioned.
“They are ‘rubbish’ from Sarawak which Anwar should not pick up,” he added.
The MoCS leader referred to two incidents which Anwar did not perform as well as expected of his iconic status as a national leader.
One was a by-election in Sarawak last year in which PKR took on the BN. The candidate Anwar eventually endorsed was the result of a recommendation from one of his so-called ‘advisers’ of questionable character.
It is believed that Anwar’s decision did not go down well with the majority of PKR people in Sarawak as they felt that another candidate was a better choice. As a result, it was a divided PKR that entered the fray and not surprisingly, the party was defeated.
“As PKR licked its wounds after the by-election defeat, Anwar has to shoulder the blame for the electoral disaster,” Siah said.
A second incident was Anwar’s recent trip to London where another of his Sarawak ‘adviser’ tagged along.
“And in the UK, all that the guy did was to complain and sigh to others about his timber licence being cancelled. With the opportunity to meet an audience overseas, shouldn’t he be talking about a new political direction for Sarawak and what role he could play in that quest? Anwar should be embarrassed to have such an adviser in his camp,” said Siah.
Yet another report received by MoCS was of one Anwar ‘adviser’ who bad-mouthed the PKR chief after he was unsuccessful in obtaining business contracts from Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim.
“Anwar should realize that some people hang around him only hoping for some lucrative deals from the Selangor Government or in states where he has influence. Once it became known that they could not get what they wanted, they would not hesitate to unleash venom from their forked tongues against Anwar and PKR.”
Siah also revealed a purported plan by one of the shady characters to allow him to select PKR candidates for the coming Sarawak elections with the undertaking that he would fund these candidates.
“This is something serious and MoCS would like to warn Anwar that if he (Anwar) allows the perverted attempt to succeed, we will request Sarawak voters to reject such PKR candidates. Party candidates must not be subservient to a godfather whose only desire is to continue the plunder of Sarawak resources via lucrative under-the-table deals,” he said.
“It is unfortunate that Anwar has surrounded himself with characters who strut around in their self deluded image of themselves as demigods that have done the hapless people a favour by condescending to listen to their tales of thirst and hunger. At best, these people are only bluffing themselves but they would not get their way around the people of Sarawak much longer. MoCS will do its utmost to halt the undesirable activities of these parasites”.
Siah said there are several genuine and upright leaders in Sarawak PKR and Anwar should ensure that their voices are not drowned in the cacophony of political sycophants who believe that there is no better way to survive than to live off peanuts from them (“political parasites”) who themselves are feeding fat on the sweat and tears of Sarawakians.
The MoCS leader urged Anwar to accept the movement’s feedback in good faith as it was the result of reports from his own party leaders and members in Sarawak. He said that MoCS would accord Anwar due respect in his position as the Parliamentary Opposition Leader.
Siah said it was a fact that PKR leaders in Sarawak may feel uncomfortable to inform Anwar of unpleasant things as he was their boss but “I will not hesitate to let him know what is wrong as I am not a PKR member and Anwar is not my boss”.
“In fact, MoCS will ‘raise its voice’ against political leaders whether they are from Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat if they digress from doing the right thing for Sarawak and its people.”
“It is the responsibility of MoCS to do so,” Siah added.
