Sanusi doubtful of Anwar’s truth over Sultan Kedah’s audience with Rizal Chalid

PENDANG - Caretaker menteri besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor has weighed in on the supposed non-business nature of the audience between Indonesian tycoon, Riza Chalid and the Sultan of Kedah Sultan Sallehuddin Badlishah.

In a TikTok live session with blogger Wan Muhammad Azri Wan Deris, Sanusi doubted Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s explanation that the meeting involving him, Rizal and Sultan Sallehuddin was a mere courtesy call.

“At that time [last year], Anwar was still just the Port Dickson MP and he said on television last night that the Sultan invited him but does a Port Dickson MP has got anything to do with the Sultan [of Kedah].

“I think, the Sultan, is not that open to the point that MPs can simply bring tycoons to visit him. I have the links which I will reveal later,” Sanusi told Azri, popularly known as Papagomo.

Riza gained notoriety after Sanusi recently revealed that the former has been lobbying to mine rare-earths in Kedah following intense missiles from Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail over the rare-earths theft that happened under Sanusi’s administration.

According to Sanusi, Riza had even opened an office here in Kedah.

“The moment I mentioned Riza’s name, they immediately took down the signboard, the very next day. Why would you need to do that if you don’t have anything to hide?” Sanusi asked.

Following Sanusi’s expose, Anwar denied that the Oct 2, 2022 audience involving him, Rizal and the Sultan had anything to do with matters of rare-earths.

“The Sultan wanted to see me because of other matters, including a visit to the Royal Mausoleum,” said Anwar as reported by Bernama.

Against the backdrop of the coming state election, rare-earths have a hot button issue here in Kedah with Pakatan Harapan has been consistently using it to discredit Sanusi.

Due this Aug 12, a total of 1,585,085 voters are eligible to cast their ballots in an electoral contest involving 83 candidates vying for Kedah’s 36 state seats.