After 'wake up' call, Anwar urges all to take a step back

PKR leaders will be spending this weekend at the luxurious Lexis Hibiscus in Port Dickson amid an intense rift between president Anwar Ibrahim and his deputy president Azmin Ali.

Taking to Twitter this evening, Anwar said he is looking forward to the retreat, where Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad is scheduled to address the PKR leaders tonight.

“Looking forward to the Keadilan (PKR) retreat - we stand united in addressing the plight of the rakyat,” he added.

Anwar, who is the Port Dickson MP, also urged all to take a step back as well.

“Let's take a step back and not lose sight of the issues that matter,” he added in response to a tweet from activist Cynthia Gabriel.

Gabriel, who is the executive director for the Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4), urged PKR to “wake up before it is too late.”

“Hello PKR... you cannot fail us Malaysians who still strongly believe in a multiracial agenda for the future of this country.

“You are the only political party that espouses this... Wake up before its too late!” she said.

PKR had been divided between those aligned to Anwar and Azmin for years but the situation exacerbated over the past month following the circulation of a sex video implicating the latter.

Speculation has been rife that the video is related to the tussle over the prime minister's post following claims that Mahathir prefered Azmin to succeed him despite an earlier agreement that Anwar would inherit the reins.

Azmin, who is also economic affairs minister, is also convinced that those responsible for the video are from within PKR.

Yesterday, Inspector-General of Police Abdul Hamid Bador revealed that the leader of a political party was the mastermind behind a “wicked plot” to tarnish Azmin's reputation.

Anwar has denied involvement but his political secretary was among those detained in connection with the case.

The police also said while the video is most likely authentic, the facial recognition process failed to confirm that Azmin was one of the two men recorded engaging in sexual acts.

Former Santubong PKR Youth chief Haziq Abdullah Abdul Rahman, who is currently in police detention, had claimed to be the person in the video and alleged that Azmin was the other man.