AMANAH and PKR will each take one of the four assemblymen who caused the collapse of the Barisan Nasional-led Malacca government, said Anwar Ibrahim.

“This will be finalised later tonight or tomorrow morning,” said the Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman at an online press conference tonight, adding that the final decision will be announced tomorrow.

He said he accepts and understands the criticism against PH for taking in two of the four assemblymen, but assured that the situation is different than politicians who defected from their parties.

“Here, the question of jumping parties does not arise as the state assembly has already been dissolved. Furthermore, they did it to return the mandate to PH.”

Even if Amanah and PKR were to field these assemblymen in the upcoming Malacca polls, it is still up to voters to decide, he added.

“Negotiations (with them) were done by the Malacca leadership, not central. They later explained it, and although there are some reservations, we have accepted their decision.”

Amanah and PKR have come under fire recently for wanting to field two of the four defectors in the Malacca polls.

DAP has already said it will not accept two of the assemblymen – one of whom is its former Pengkalan Batu rep Norhizam Hassan Baktee, who quit the party and caused the collapse of the PH-led Malacca government last year.

Neither Amanah nor PKR has announced who it wants to field, but it is believed that one of them is former chief minister Idris Haron, the ex-Umno leader who is widely believed to have led the negotiation to topple the BN-led state government.

The other two defectors who caused the collapse of the Malacca government are Nor Azman Hassan and Noor Effandi Ahmad. – November 5, 2021.