KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim should stop blaming Datuk Seri Najib Razak over his failure to be prime minister in Sept 2020, as it can be deemed as slander, said Umno’s Ketereh MP Tan Sri Annuar Musa.

Annuar said the Port Dickson MP’s failed bid at premiership was because he failed to convince the Yang di-Pertuan Agong in Oct 2020 that he had enough numbers to replace Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as the then prime minister.

"The story that Najib proposed another candidate is slander.

"Najib was not very involved at the time," said Annuar in a post on Facebook on Sunday (July 3).

"I hope he will stop with this fake story," he added.

Annuar, who is Communications and Multimedia Minister, said that Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob was presented as the candidate for Prime Minister on the consensus of the Barisan Nasional MPs, Gabungan Parti Sarawak, Perikatan Nasional and some independent MPs.

"We did consult and have discussions with Najib.

"This method of 'turning the world upside down' should be stopped, and accept the fact that DSAI (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) did not receive enough support from MPs," he said.

It was reported that Anwar on Thursday (June 30) said he did not get to become the prime minister despite having the support of at least 118 MPs because of his decision not to entertain calls to discontinue certain court cases involving prominent personalities once he gets the job.

The Port Dickson MP, who had in September 2020 claimed to have the numbers to become prime minister claimed he was then told that court cases, including those involving Najib, had to be discontinued if he wanted support but he was not prepared to do so.

"When I said I had convincing support and had the numbers then, many people made fun of it.

"But I could not say more than that as several of the statutory declarations (SDs) were sent straight to the King and I didn't want to drag the name of the Palace into this," he said.

Anwar said he was not prepared to do so and would never get involved in matters under the judiciary.

"When I made this clear, Najib proposed another candidate and I was denied the position at the very last minute," Anwar was quoted as saying on June 30.

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2022/07/03/blaming-najib-for-failure-to-become-pm-is-slander-says-annuar