PETALING JAYA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - After receiving overwhelming support as president of the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) at the party's retreat, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on Sunday (July 21) said he was prepared to work together with his deputy Azmin Ali, following their spat over the past week.
The PKR has seen bitter infighting between rival camps of Mr Anwar and Datuk Seri Azmin since videos of two men engaging in sex acts surfaced on social media last month, prompting allegations that Mr Azmin Ali was one of the men involved in the video.
The release of the video clips led to an open feud between Mr Anwar and Mr Azmin last week, with Mr Anwar calling on Mr Azmin, the Economic Affairs Minister, to resign if it was proven that he was the man in the video clips.
"Azmin is the deputy president. We need to work as a team (and hold) regular meetings and discussions," he told reporters after the party's three-day-long retreat on Sunday. "There is no problem, it is still a team," he said.
Mr Anwar had said on Saturday (July 20) at the PKR's retreat in Port Dickson that Mr Azmin was not involved in the scandal, based on a statement released by the Malaysian police.
"We are glad with the assertion that Azmin is not involved based on the facial recognition process, which has turned out to be negative as they can't establish the characters in the sex clip," Mr Anwar said.
Mr Anwar said that the police should be allowed to complete their probe, adding that the PKR strictly rejects gutter politics.
Mr Azmin, who did not attend the retreat, wrote on Twitter late Saturday that he had taken note of Mr Anwar's comments.
"After looking at Anwar's full statement, I acknowledge his stand that he has accepted the findings of the investigation announced by the IGP (Inspector General of Police) that cleared me of any involvement in the defamatory video," Mr Azmin tweeted on Saturday.
Malaysia's police chief Abdul Hamid Bador had said on Thursday (July 18) that CyberSecurity Malaysia, the agency tasked with forensic analysis of the video, could not identify the people in the video through facial recognition. But it had deemed there was a high probability the video was authentic.
Datuk Seri Abdul Hamid added that the police investigation were still ongoing.
Last month, PKR member Haziq Abdullah Abdul Aziz confessed to being one of the two men in the video and alleged that the other was Mr Azmin.
As of July 20, 11 men including Mr Haziq and Mr Anwar's political secretary Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak have been arrested and remanded by police over the video clips.
Mr Anwar had said on Saturday the PKR would not hesitate to take action "according to the party constitution if any members are involved and convicted by law".
Mr Azmin in his tweet on Saturday had also noted that stern action would be taken against any PKR leaders or members involved in spreading the video. "This is in line with my earlier statement that all forms of gutter politics must be rejected," he said.
