Guan Eng, Mat Sabu's audience with Agong postponed

In a joint statement today, Lim and Mohamad said the senior private secretary of the ruler informed them of the postponement of their audience with the Agong. 

''We were summoned to have an audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on Oct 14 for Lim and Oct 21 for Mohamad,'' they said.

''However, the senior private secretary of His Majesty informed us that our sessions had been postponed,'' they said, adding that they will adhere to instructions from the palace. 

The two leaders cited no reason as to why their audiences have been postponed.

Beside Lim and Mohamad, the ruler also met Umno veteran and Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah yesterday afternoon. Several political party leaders were reportedly summoned by the palace as well.

It is not immediately known if the scheduled royal audience involving MIC president SA Vigneswaran today and BN chairperson Ahmad Zahid Hamidi on Thursday will also be affected.

When contacted, Vigneswaran said he has yet to hear anything. He indicated that he thought it would be logical to postpone the audience as PKR president Anwar Ibrahim had not provided any names to substantiate his claims that he has the support of a majority in the Dewan Rakyat.

Meanwhile PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang was not scheduled to have an audience with the Agong, his deputy Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man told Malaysiakini.

The royal audience sessions came after the Agong's meeting with Anwar yesterday morning.

On Sept 23, Anwar had proclaimed that he had secured ''formidable and convincing'' majority support to form a new government and oust Muhyiddin Yassin as prime minister.

However, Istana Negara's comptroller of the royal household Ahmad Fadil Shamsuddin said Anwar only presented the total number of MPs purportedly supporting him instead of the names of these MPs.

Meanwhile, about 20 media personnel who arrived at the Istana around 9am were told by police that there would be no meetings at the palace today.