Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and other Pakatan Rakyat MPs will skip the royal banquet in Parliament on Monday because he does not want to rub shoulders with the Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and Chief Justice Ariffin Zakaria, who will be present.
 
"I don't want to smile like a hypocrite with people who are cruel," Anwar said during his speech at the Pakatan Rakyat convention in Shah Alam today.
 
Anwar said he will write to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to inform that Pakatan MPs would not participate in the banquet that follows after the King's speech in the morning of Mar 10.
 
"I would however inform him that we would gladly participate if the King invites us for another banquet that that does not feature the PM and the CJ," he said.

Anwar also said that all the Pakatan MPs, who will not attend the second day of the Parliament session the following day, Mar 11, are encouraged to go to either the nomination centre for the Kajang by-election or to the Kuala Lumpur High Court for DAP veteran Karpal Singh's sentencing after the latter was found guilty of committing sedition against the Perak Sultan recently.
 
In his long winding up address to the convention, Anwar spent time reflecting on his past experiences, stressing that he did not know "how long he will be free" and hinting that he might be imprisoned within two months.
 
Towards the end of the speech, the 67-year-old stirred up the crowd with a battlecry for reform, stressing that the fight would continue even if he is jailed.
 
"Whether Anwar is in Kajang, whether Anwar is in jail or not, the struggle would continue, it goes on," he said.
 
He proceeded to advise members of Pakatan not to listen to their own party leaders alone, but to start to listen leaders from Pakatan regardless of any parties.
 
"Don't pay just extra attention to your own party leader, listen to what all leaders have to say. That will foster our unity," Anwar said.