The federal government’s ‘people-centric programme’ under the Implementation Coordination Unit (ICU) in Selangor came under fire in the House today when Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim alleged it a conspiracy to topple the Pakatan Rakyat-led state.

anwar ibrahim Echoing the allegation which was raised in the state assembly last Friday, Anwar claimed the federal government has resorted to ‘gutter politics’ by abusing the RM52 million programme implemented under the prime minister’s department.

In his speech at the committee stage debate of the Supplementary Supply Bill, Anwar revealed that the programme objectives included ‘strengthening people’s positive perception towards the federal government’ and ‘restricting the people’s support only to the federal government’.

"This does to show that it wants to purposely tarnish the state government’s credibility and image," said Anwar, referring to the documents he received "in my letterbox".

According to the document, the ICU urges government officials to support the federal government in regaining the two-third majority in the next general election and to win back Selangor from Pakatan, claimed Anwar.

"I am here to back the state government officials. They can’t be dragged into this due to weak politics of their higher officials," said the Permatang Pauh MP, adding that the programme also urges them to keep Barisan Nasional in power at the federal level.

Election Commission in ICU committee

What was most shocking , added Anwar, was that committee members in the ICU included representatives of an independent body, the Election Commission (EC).

abdullah ahmad badawi looking left "Why does the EC need to be in the committee? To strengthen BN and topple the Pakatan government? This is a very serious matter under Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s (right) administration," said Anwar.

This allegation however was slammed by Mohamed Aziz (Sri Gading BN) who said the EC could have an important role in the committee without necessarily supporting the federal government.

"If the EC is not clean, five states would not have fallen into the hands of Pakatan and Permatang Pauh (Anwar) could have lost during the by-election," he said.

To a question by Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timor) as to who was responsible for outlining the objectives under the programme, Anwar said the ICU meetings were previously chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

"Based on the information I have received, the programme came from the ICU under the prime minister’s department and the order was given out in a meeting chaired by the deputy prime minister.

"Why are they being harsh to us? Is it because we have been taking positive steps in the state governments, something that they (federal government) are not prepared to do?"

Minister in PM’s dept ‘bullied’

In a related development, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Amirsham Abdul Aziz, was heckled by the opposition MPs over the programme.

During his winding-up speech, Azmin Ali (PKR Gombak) interjected amirsham abdul aziz to ask the minister (right) to explain the RM52 million "conspiracy’"plotted against the Selangor government.

Amirsham ignored the question and continued with his speech.

azmin ali "This document tabled RM52 million and the ICU is under the prime minister’s department. The money allocated is not for development, but for BN special projects," persisted Azmin (left) .

"I have proof and it states a clear objective of toppling the state government. I have evidence and you are not even denying it. You as a newly-elected senator, why would you want to conspire with BN?"

At this point, many opposition MPs stood up in a show of protest and demanded an answer from Amirsham, to which the latter replied the RM52 million was "spent accordingly".

Mohamed came to Amirsham’s rescue, saying that the minister was being ‘bullied’ by the Opposition.

This prompted several Pakatan MPs to cite the Standing Orders against Mohamed, resulting in him withdrawing his remark.