PETALING JAYA, 25 May: PKR De Facto Leader, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said that he will not retreat from the nation’s political arena because Pakatan Rakyat won the popular vote in the 13th General Election.
He said that Pakatan did not succeed in forming the federal government because of fraud in the election process and not because they lost fairly and cleanly.
“If there was no fraud, we will be in Putrajaya today. It is not that I cannot accept defeat, but if we were defeated in the election where the process was conducted transparently, I will retire.
“In this case, we won, why should I retreat. They (Umno-BN) received 47 percent of votes by cheating. Why ask people (PR) who received 51 percent to retreat. Are you not ashamed?
“I decided that we will not back down,” he said in his concluding speech for the 9th Keadilan National Congress here at the Civic Hall.
Previously, Anwar was reported to have said that he would retire from politics and return to teach at higher institutes of education if Pakatan Rakyat fails to capture Putrajaya in the GE-13.
Anwar was a lecturer at the Georgetown University in the United States.
Anwar said that he is not someone who changes his mind but he wants to continue the fight because he claims that the fraud masterminded by the Election Commission (EC) is to help BN win.
“For us, we have already won the election, but this defeat involves bringing in Bangladeshis, this is fraud,” he said.
Meanwhile, he urged all the leaders at all levels to lodge police reports regarding the 13th General Election (GE-13) fraud this Monday.
This is so that the judge can examine hundreds of thousands of reports regarding the GE-13 fraud case, including that of the indelible ink issue.
He said that he and the top leaders will also lodge police reports regarding the indelible ink which was not permanent.
The Permatang Pauh Member of Parliament said that if there was fraud in his area, he is ready for a re-election to be held there.
“I am ready to compete again if the party chooses me again,” he said.