Stop politicising Anwar's weekly prayers, says press sec

The attempt to link Anwar Ibrahim's weekly prayers at his house in Bukit Segambut to politics is irresponsible, said the PKR president’s press secretary Tunku Nashrul Tunku Abaidah.

In a statement today, Tunku Nashrul urged all parties to stop politicising the event.

"As said by Anwar (yesterday), this event is a normal religious activity which has been held every Sunday since six months ago. Prior to that, it was held every Thursday for years," he said.

Berita Harian reported yesterday that the Port Dickson MP appeared troubled when a group of reporters and photographers swamped his house.

"This is a recital event (majlis mengaji)... we do this every Sunday evening. So what's the issue? This has nothing to do with politics," he told the media.

It was also reported that about 300 guests attended the event including Anwar's wife, Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

The event coincided with one attended by Anwar's deputy Mohamed Azmin Ali, which involved a special prayer session to reject gutter politics against him in Shah Alam yesterday.

The two leaders had traded remarks after Anwar suggested that Azmin should resign if a sex video implicating him was proven to be authentic.

Azmin responded by asking Anwar to "look at the man in the mirror."

However, Azmin yesterday signalled that he and Anwar are on good terms after saying that he would continue to co-operate with the latter to champion the party's agenda.

"Anwar and I will continue to co-operate because he is the president and I am his deputy; do not provoke us as we have been together for many decades (in the party struggle),” he said.

Inspector-General of Police Abdul Hamid Bador has said investigations showed that the video was likely authentic, but that the identities of those in the video could not be ascertained.

Former Santubong PKR Youth chief Haziq Abdullah Abdul Aziz and Perak PKR chief Farhash Wafa Salvador and several others were remanded to facilitate investigations into the case.

Haziq had confessed to being the person in a series of sex videos released last month, and claimed that the person he was engaging in sexual acts with was Azmin.

He alleged that the video was recorded in Azmin's hotel room in Sandakan, Sabah, two months ago.

Azmin has described the video as a nefarious attempt to ruin his political career.