Anwar Ibrahim is not taking Azmin Ali’s “betrayal” of the Pakatan Harapan coalition as a personal attack against him but admitted that it was a “treacherous” act by his former protege.
Asked in an interview this morning if he was upset at Azmin, Anwar deemed the former’s actions “treacherous” but said he did not take the betrayal to heart.
“I have been in politics for a long time, I have taken the blows.
“To me, it’s just not personal,” he told radio station BFM.
Anwar, however, described Azmin’s defection as a “treacherous act”.
“The fact is, he did it. I’m giving a fact. A treacherous act is a treacherous act,” Anwar said of Azmin’s decision to leave PH, triggering the former government’s downfall.
Azmin was Anwar’s aide since the latter started his career in Umno more than 30 years ago.
Back in 1998, the duo founded the party together.
Over the years, their relationship deteriorated significantly, and this split the party in two.
Tensions between their factions came to a head in a fractious party congress last December that led to fights between youths of the rival camps.
Azmin was the number two in Anwar’s party PKR, and a minister in the PH administration.
In February this year, Azmin helped engineer a political coup deemed the “Sheraton Move” to deny Anwar the chance to be the eighth prime minister and to dissolve the Pakatan Harapan government.
Azmin later quit PKR to join Bersatu and has since ascended to become a senior minister in the Perikatan Nasional administration.