PUTRAJAYA — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi displayed a united front at today’s Cabinet meeting, playing down talk of friction between Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Barisan Nasional (BN) amid state election campaigning.
Photos published on the Prime Minister’s official Facebook page showed Anwar and Zahid—chairmen of PH and BN respectively—entering the Perdana Putra conference room engaged in a lighthearted conversation alongside senior coalition leaders.
The jovial encounter comes a day after Zahid remarked that Anwar was free to sack BN’s eight Cabinet ministers if he was dissatisfied with them—a direct response to Anwar’s earlier warning that ministers attacking government colleagues on the campaign trail should step down.
Moving to diffuse tensions, Anwar accompanied his social media post with a four-line poem emphasizing coalition unity: “Though we may take different steps, let our friendship live on. As long as there is consensus, we remain on the same path.”
Zahid played a crucial role in forming the current administration following the 2022 general election, leading BN’s 30 MPs to support Anwar and break a hung parliament. The unity government currently commands a supermajority of 151 seats in the Dewan Rakyat.
Also present at the meeting were DAP secretary-general Loke Siew Fook, Amanah president Mohamad Sabu, DAP deputy chairman Nga Kor Ming, BN secretary-general Datuk Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir, and Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin.
