ANWAR Ibrahim believes some old enemies are trying to drive a wedge between him and Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad – bringing into the open what has been putting the rumour mill into overdrive.

The de facto PKR leader lamented that his meetings with several Malay rulers and a planned meeting this Wednesday with all PKR elected representatives were being dissected and assigned ill-intent.

His critics are accusing him of building his own support base and of undermining the leadership of Dr Mahathir.

“There are people who hold a grudge against me and are trying to pit me against Dr Mahathir,” Anwar told more than 500 members of the Malaysian Muslim Youth Movement (Abim) in Sungai Ramal, Kajang, last night.

“I still cannot get away from a few bad people and those who are involved in an evil conspiracy to slander me,” said Anwar, who led Abim from 1974 to 1982 before Dr Mahathir brought him into politics.

“These people appear again because they probably thought I would go against Dr Mahathir,” said Anwar, noting that this group of detractors were assigning ill-intent to every move that he made.

Before GE14, Dr Mahathir had reconciled with Anwar, the deputy prime minister he fired and jailed in the late 1990s. 

Dr Mahathir and his party Bersatu, joined Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan, which went on to defeat Barisan Nasional in the 14th general election.

Once he was appointed prime minister, Dr Mahathir sought a full royal pardon for Anwar, who was serving a five-year jail term for sodomy.

Anwar had maintained the sentence was a politically motivated plot by the Najib Razak administration.

“After I had an audience with the Malay rulers, I am now meeting with MPs (from PKR). They negatively interpret the things that I do,” he said referring to the meeting this Wednesday between him and PKR’s elected federal and state legislators.

Anwar said he had been invited to meet the rulers, and he went to explain misconceptions concerning the new PH administration.

The meeting with MPs and state assemblymen was planned a while ago and had been at the request of the elected representatives after Anwar was released from prison.

Anwar told the crowd last night that he has conveyed his support to Dr Mahathir.

“Tun, I want to support you. You have a free space to govern. Do the best you can, I will not trouble you and will support you in sailing this ship whether I agree or disagree with the policies you want to implement. I fully support you,” Anwar said.

However, Anwar told Dr Mahathir that he had many visits to make.

“I told him (Dr Mahathir) I had to meet the people. How can I not meet them? I was previously in prison, but now that I am free, it would be stupid of me if I went missing,” said Anwar. – June 3, 2018.