He tried to hide the truce with Najib but the man who 'brokered' the deal just could not contain his frustration anymore. Finally, he burst out and slammed Anwar for failing to comply.
JAKARTA, Indonesia—A former Indonesian vice president with a history of brokering peace agreements has accused Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim of reneging on a secret deal to respect the outcome of Malaysia's elections on May 5.Read more...
Jusuf Kalla revealed the pre-election accord in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, amid a public protest campaign by Mr. Anwar over what the opposition leader said was widespread vote fraud by the ruling National Front coalition. The election returned Prime Minister Najib Razak and the long-ruling National Front to power in the tightest national election in Malaysian history.
Mr. Kalla said the two candidates—whom he said he considered friends of his going back decades—had made a written agreement in April to refrain from personal attacks during the campaign and to accept the outcome, in a deal first proposed by Mr. Anwar.
Mr. Anwar acknowledged he had made the pact with Mr. Najib, with Mr. Kalla as mediator, but said the National Front had rendered it void by the way it ran its campaign.
He singled out Malaysia's media, much of which is controlled or owned by the government or members of the ruling coalition. "How can you talk reconciliation when you demonize your opponent in this manner?" Mr. Anwar said to The Wall Street Journal. He also said it was Mr. Kalla, not him, who first proposed the pact.
Mr. Najib stressed reconciliation in his first public remarks after the election, though both sides said that the other had rejected a clause in the pact that the winner was to offer the loser a role in a "reconciliation government."
Mr. Najib's camp confirmed that the agreement was made and dismissed Mr. Anwar's view that it had been undermined by the campaign—during which both sides accused the other of low blows and distortions. Mr. Anwar had strong support among Malaysian Web-based media during the campaign.
Mr. Kalla said he felt that both sides met their commitment to refrain from personal attacks during the campaign, and he hasn't criticized Mr. Najib over the conduct of the election.
Mr. Anwar said he plans to step up a legal campaign to overturn the results in 29 electoral districts, raising political tensions in Malaysia, which has grown increasingly divided in the aftermath of the election.
Mr. Anwar, a former deputy prime minister who has been the country's most prominent opposition leader for the past 15 years, has led a national campaign of mass rallies since the election. The scene has grown increasingly confrontational. Three prominent opposition activists were detained and later released in the past week.
In the weeks before the election, Mr. Anwar alleged that the National Front and Malaysia's Election Commission were manipulating electoral rolls and mobilizing illegal voters. On May 5, Mr. Anwar said his alliance had won and accused the National Front of stealing the election.
The National Front and the Election Commission rejected the allegations of electoral fraud. The Commission said there were extremely few irregularities, and that a record 85% of voters cast ballots.
Mr. Anwar said he is pessimistic that courts would overturn results in key districts.
The final vote count showed that Mr. Anwar's Pakatan Rakyat alliance won a majority of the popular vote, but Mr. Najib's coalition won heavily in many rural constituencies, where he has strong popular support, to emerge with a 21-seat parliamentary majority.
Mr. Kalla said that the outcome of the balloting, held on a Sunday, was clear. "We had a commitment,'' he said. "On Monday, I asked Anwar to accept it and look at reality. But they said, 'No, no, no, no.' ''