Annuar witness to Ismail’s promise on DPM’s post, says Wan Saiful

PETALING JAYA: A Bersatu leader has insisted that Ismail Sabri Yaakob promised Perikatan Nasional (PN) the deputy prime minister’s post before his appointment as the prime minister last August.

Bersatu information chief Wan Saiful Wan Jan said the promise is contained in a “coalition agreement” signed between Ismail, who is an Umno vice-president, and PN.

“The witness to this coalition agreement on the side of the prime minister was Tan Sri Annuar Musa,” said Wan Saiful in a Facebook post.

He was responding to Umno information chief Shahril Hamdan’s denial of the claim that Ismail had signed an agreement promising PN the deputy prime minister’s post.

Shahril had said he had no knowledge of such an agreement nor had it been talked about before. He also said Ismail would not have bowed to PN’s demands.

Elaborating on PN’s demands, Wan Saiful said Umno had also pressed former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin for posts when he was in power.

“(Then) we never said Umno was power crazy because that is a best practice (in a coalition government),” he said.

He said the issue was not about posts, but integrity and fulfilling promises.

PN chairman and Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin first brought up the alleged agreement last Saturday when he said he met Ismail to discuss Cabinet appointments, including the deputy prime minister’s post, as per the agreement.

While the current administration does not have a deputy prime minister, the Cabinet has four senior ministers. — Free Malaysia Today