PKR President Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim speaks during a press conference at the party headquarters in Petaling Jaya June 23, 2019. — Picture by Yusof Mat Isa

PETALING JAYA, June 23 — PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said today he did not doubt that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad would hand power to him as Pakatan Harapan (PH) had promised in the 2018 general election.

Anwar today chaired the PKR central committee meeting, which had discussed, among other matters, the question of the transition of power from PM Dr Mahathir to Anwar.

“In my weekly private exchanges with the PM, I am satisfied. I do not have any doubt that the transition would take place.

“He [Dr Mahathir] has been very genuine and frank, and the discussion had been very intimate. It is unnecessary for us to share the issues that we agreed between us because as far as he and I are concerned, it is a done deal,” Anwar told a press conference at the PKR headquarters here today.

On the sex scandal issue implicating his deputy Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali, Anwar said the party leadership were not interested in the details concerning the contents of the sex videos that were shared on social media.

A PKR member, Haziq Abdullah Abdul Aziz, has claimed that he was featured in the videos having sex with Azmin.

Anwar said the party reiterates its position in rejecting gutter politics, and said its disciplinary board had been very tough on the issue.

“We are not either interested in questioning or discussing the contents. I think the issue of his [Azmin] attendance to meeting is a separate issue,” said Anwar, in response to whether the party would call in Azmin for question over the sex video issues as the latter had been absent from party meetings.

“I don’t think it is fair at this juncture to question during these difficult times.”

Meanwhile, when asked on the alleged extortion bid against him by Yahaya Ismail, who penned a book on why Anwar should not be PM, Anwar said he had always known the latter to be a mercenary writer whom he said is not taken seriously by anyone.

Anwar said he leaves it to Sungai Petani MP Datuk Johari Abdul, who had lodged a report against the author on Wednesday, to take the matter to the authorities as he does not intend to take any action, since Yahaya (and his writings) “does not warrant a response”.

“Nobody takes Yahaya seriously. He is known to be like a mercenary writer His many previous sponsored books was [sic] never discussed the academia or book review. It does not warrant a response.

“I have not taken any action. I leave this entirely up to Johari and some party activist in Kuala Lumpur as well as for the police to investigate,” said the Port Dickson MP.

Earlier today, Johari told news portal Malaysiakini said that he will turn over documents pertaining to an alleged extortion bid against Anwar to the police at 10am tomorrow.

This includes the book manuscript by Yahaya, which outlines why Anwar is not fit to be the prime minister, as well as WhatsApp conversations with the author.