Unity proposals never came from Najib, says Anwar

PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim said no official proposal for a unity government had ever come from Prime Minister and BN chief Najib Abdul Razak.

However, he does not deny that this matter has been in "discussions... in private", within political circles.

"I deny hearing from Najib on any specific proposal. Period...

"Let us confine ourselves to the facts. No formal or designated representation (from the BN).

"I don't think in the realm of politics these rumours (and) discussions in public places can be an issue," he told reporters.

PAS vice-president Salahuddin Ayub (left in photo), who was also at the post-Pakatan Rakyat leadership council meeting press conference, also denied that PAS had embarked on such talks with veteran BN MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.

"At this stage, not at all. We stick with Pakatan. Any decision we make is under Pakatan, it's very clear," Salahuddin said.

Anwar also reiterated that he did not meet Najib during his recent visit to Indonesia and had only met with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and former vice-president Jusuf Kalla in Bali and Jakarta, respectively.

He said he had met Yudhoyono upon the president's invitation - the first for Anwar in an official capacity - and had even presented him with copies of the election petitions filed by Pakatan.

Anwar said Kalla had also "proposed ideas" which he "took note of", but declined to reveal what these were.

"I told him, as far as I am concerned and as far as Keadilan is concerned, we are committed to Pakatan, to the rally on June 22, and I reiterated my understanding of (PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang's) and PAS' position of their commitment to Pakatan and their support of the June 22 rally.

'Anything else are rumours'

"Anything other than that are just rumours," Anwar said, stressing that it was a private meeting and that the media should ask Kalla if they wanted to know what he had proposed.

He said this in answer to a question on whether he was ever offered the post of deputy prime minister and  four ministerial posts for Pakatan, if a unity government is formed.

As for the "informal" pact with Najib brokered by Kalla before nomination day, Anwar (right) said he had stressed to Kalla - his friend of 30 years - that reconciliation could not take place as Najib did not fulfil his part of the deal.

Anwar said this was for an ethical, free and fair election, as well as a clean-up of the electoral roll.

He added that he did, however, know that Kalla and Najib had met last week "for five or six hours over golf, lunch, tea and cigar".

"Since I don't play golf or smoke cigars, I missed the four hours," he quipped.

"I (had) never entertained talk of a unity government at that meeting (with Kalla) or at other meetings and to be fair, I did not meet with Najib."

One upmanship by Anwar and Najib in Jakarta