Perikatan Nasional struggling to 'buy', 'threaten' MPs before parliamentary session - Anwar Ibrahim

KUALA LUMPUR: PKR President Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has claimed that the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government is currently struggling to 'buy and threaten' members of Parliament (MPs) before the Parliament is scheduled to be in session.

He claimed that the PN, led by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, did not have the confidence of MPs other than losing the support of the majority.

"The PN government needs to step down because it has lost the majority.

“So, they are struggling to buy, pay and do their best to threaten to get the support (of MPs) before they can think of a Parliament session," he said in a video uploaded on his Facebook account on Monday.

He said this when commenting on the actions of two PKR leaders – MP for Julau, Larry Sng from Sarawak and MP for Tebrau, Steven Choong -- who quit the party and expressed support for the Prime Minister.

Commenting further on the issue of party jumping, Anwar, the Leader of the Opposition, also recalled the incident after the 2008 General Election (GE) where the MPs who acted in such a way have been kicked out by the people.

"This is because of their judgment, their personalities. The pressure is on them, whether (in terms of) taxes, whether they are (offered) projects, or any other pressure until they have no choice, (but they say) supposedly to defend the fate of the people," he said.

Anwar also stressed that the government should be fair to all MPs, including from the opposition.

"That should be our demand. It is not the demand of the people's representatives to be the people's fighters, the people's spokesperson, the people's conscience and then admit defeat. This is called confusion of thought.

"If it is true that we love the people and want the people to rise together, we should demand that Parliament hold a session and the PN government step down because they have lost the majority," he said.

The Port Dickson MP reiterated his call for a parliamentary session to be held as soon as possible to discuss people's issues including unemployment and the decline of foreign investments.