The stage is set for an exciting encounter between two sworn political foes.
KUALA
LUMPUR: Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim may come face to face with
Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak at a Chinese New Year open house in
Kajang tomorrow — and deliver highly charged political speeches.
The event is organised by Dong Zong, a Chinese education pressure group.
Anwar today said he would not avoid meeting Najib if both were to share the same stage at the gathering.
Both Najib and Anwar have agreed to attend the event.
Said Anwar: “What’s the problem [meeting him]? My battle is not
personal, I’m not going to fight with him,” he said when asked by
reporters whether he would meet Najib.
He was attending a Chinese New Year function at the Batu constituency here.
The encounter will whip up a frenzy of interest as the two top leaders have never met outside of Parliament since 2008.
According to media reports, Najib has informed Dong Zong about his
attendance on Thursday. Yesterday, Anwar confirmed he would also be
attending.
The open house is scheduled to begin at 10am at the Dong Zong headquarters in the premises of the New Era College. 
Both Anwar and Najib are expected to deliver highly
politically-charged speeches, should they appeared at the occasion at
the same time.
Anwar said he will not be worried if Najib were to announce that the
government will recognise the Chinese independent schools’ Unified
Examination Certificate (UEC) at the function tomorrow.
He said Pakatan has already pledged to recognise the UEC three years ago.
“Recognising UEC is a common policy approved by the three parties in
Pakatan three years ago. Najib will only now be responding to it, a
month before the general election, and that is the big difference,” he
said.
However, he added that the recognition of Chinese independent schools
and UEC comes with the condition that the students must be able to
master Bahasa Malaysia.
“We say we will continue to fully support all schools including the Chinese and Tamil schools,” he said.
On a separate matter, Anwar dismissed the controversy about him
donning the Huguan Siou headgear and sash at a function in Sabah
recently.
The accessories are reserved for the paramount leader of the KadazanDusunMurut (KDM) community.
The PKR de facto leader said he was only presented the headgear and
sash by a local priest without being bestowed the Huguan Siou title.
“No, there was no announcement made, nothing was mentioned (about the
title). My only concern at that time was whether there was a cross on
the drape, because it would be used by Umno to attack me,” he said.
The incident has caused a stir with many Sabah-based leaders
criticising Anwar as not being fit to wear the accessories because he
was not an ethnic Kadazan.
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