SHAH ALAM: Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) deputy president Datuk Seri Faizal Azumu admitted today that he had made mistakes in fielding certain candidates during the last election.
Faizal said this was because the candidates had betrayed the party and declared support for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, including his former political secretary and Kuala Kangsar member of parliament (MP) Datuk Iskandar Dzulkarnain Abdul Khalid.
He added that as the Bersatu Perak chief, he also had proposed fielding Iskandar Dzulkarnanin and convincing the party president, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, that the former could win the election.
"I admit I made a mistake when the president allowed me to choose the candidates.
"I also convinced the party that he (Iskandar Dzulkarnanin) would win the election, and we made a decision to ensure the party can win.
"However, I am disappointed because my most trusted former political secretary, whom I made a candidate, betrayed the party," he said during his winding-up speech during the party's annual general assembly today.
Faizal also denied involvement in the decision made by the four MPs to support Anwar, linking it with the London Move he purportedly initiated.
He also said the allegations of the move were baseless.
"It was said that I initiated the four MPs' decision in some London Move. (And) while it is true that I was in the United Kingdom at that time (during the period when the MPs declared support towards Anwar), I was at my daughter's house in Manchester, not London.
"If there were indeed a move, it would have been a Manchester Move, not London, so don't be stupid.
"I am disappointed enough that my former political secretary betrayed the party, but I will never ask him to do such a thing."