Bersatu’s Hang Tuah Jaya chief Azrudin Idris has condemned the circulation of “poison-pen letters” aimed at discrediting the party’s deputy president, Hamzah Zainudin.
“For the past few days, I have been receiving poison-pen letters through WhatsApp from unknown numbers.
“These letters have also been spread in various WhatsApp groups related to Bersatu. The senders used local numbers as well as numbers registered in Thailand, which suggests it is an organised effort,” Azrudin said in a statement.
He said the content of the letters were singularly aimed at tarnishing Hamzah’s reputation.
“From one perspective, these letters reflect the strength of the Bersatu deputy president’s leadership, which (has led to him being) repeatedly attacked by rivals.
“But it also raises the question of who is behind the dissemination of these letters, because their sole target is Hamzah,” he said.
Azrudin noted that the messages were only circulating in Bersatu support groups.
“This raises the question of whether the letters were written and spread by people within the party itself, who may see Hamzah as an internal rival,” he said.
Azrudin said he rejected such tactics and warned against importing such a toxic culture from “other parties” into Bersatu.
“Whoever the mastermind is, I strongly condemn this ugly strategy of spreading poison-pen letters among Bersatu members. This may be common in other parties, but it is not Bersatu’s culture.
“I call on all Bersatu members to reject any organised attempt to bring this bad culture from other parties into Bersatu, especially a culture of slander and pitting leaders against each other,” he said.
The poison-pen letter sighted by FMT accused Hamzah of fabricating claims that party president Muhyiddin Yassin had promised to hand over the leadership to him.
It referred to Bersatu’s so-called “Gopeng Consensus”, arguing that it was merely an understanding for Muhyiddin to decide the party’s 2024 election formula, not a pledge of succession.
The letter accused Hamzah of attempting to undermine Muhyiddin‘s presidency and spreading lies to divide Bersatu.
It said the party’s 2024 general assembly had unanimously confirmed Muhyiddin as president until the next general election.
It went on to portray Hamzah as the “enemy within” who was defying the party’s decision.
