TTF: Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim claims that he has no issue with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad staying on as Prime Minister a little longer than two years (see news item below).
However, TTF is made to understand, that the PKR chief is facing serious problems keeping even his own men and Members of Parliament (MPs) aligned with him from crossing over to Dato’ Seri Azmin Ali’s camp.
After receiving some intel, these MPs, numbering some 12 or so, committed to staying on with Tun and Azmin in the event Anwar decides to make an exit from Pakatan Harapan.
That leaves Anwar only with seven MPs comprising family members and die-hard loyalists who agree to the idea of collapsing government.
Pakatan Harapan currently has a 119 seat representation in the Dewan Rakyat.
For Anwar to trigger the collapse, he has to effect the exodus of a minimum of eight MPs from the ruling coalition.
Mahathir, on the other hand, has secured written commitments from 30 UMNO MPs and verbal commitments from a remaining eight, all of whom have agreed to partake in a unity coalition he is set to establish with Warisan and Amanah together with several MPs from Sabah and Sarawak.
I have sighted some of these commitments.
Regardless if PAS agrees to partake in the coalition, Mahathir is ready to effect the crossover of the 30 UMNO MPs into PPBM as a first stage measure should Anwar suddenly decide to collapse government.
What this means, is that no matter how you look at it, Anwar will never succeed in kicking Tun out of the driver’s seat.
That explains why he is suddenly willing to let Tun remain in power however long he chooses to.
Anwar knows, that Tun will eventually need die-hard MPs aligned with him (Anwar) and Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak’s to secure a two thirds majority in Parliament.
That is when he intends to bargain with the Prime Minister on a definite timeframe for a leadership transition.
KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim does not have an issue with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad staying on as prime minister for a little longer than two years to address the slew of problems left behind by the previous Barisan Nasional administration.
Dr Mahathir reportedly told Sin Chew Daily that his former deputy prime minister had always given him his full support.
“He has always shown me his full support, and has never mentioned to me he wants to be PM early.
“I thought I will give myself two years plus a little bit more perhaps, but I think I promised I’ll keep my promise,” he added.
Dr Mahathir said there was no need to raise the issue of him completing a five-year-team to the Pakatan Harapan presidential council as a decision was made on the succession previously.
He also kept his cards close to his chest on Anwar’s suitability to succeed him.
“No, I don’t make an assessment of that. All I said is that at the time when we were forming Pakatan Harapan, we agreed that he should be my successor.
“I never said he is good or bad. The position they want me to promise is that I don’t stay on as prime minister for a long time.”
He was responding to a question on whether Anwar was the best candidate for prime minister.
Dr Mahathir laughed when asked whether Anwar would be lucky enough to succeed him.
“No, he is still in the position to be PM when I step down so you can’t say that he will never be PM. If you ask me some of the others who wanted to be PM like Musa Hitam and Tengku Razaleigh…I don’t think any more,” he said while referring to his first deputy prime minister, Tun Musa Hitam, and Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.
Razaleigh who is Umno’s Gua Musang MP had lost his bid for Umno’s presidency against Dr Mahathir in the 1980s and Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi recently.
The 93-year-old mimicked the behaviour of a frail and elderly person when asked whether he would be considered aged after another two years.
“People said I have some experience, so they want me to use my experience to correct all the mistakes by the previous government. After that I can go.
“Two years more, I’ll be 95 you know, very old already” he said animatedly, while adding that he would still honour his promise if he was asked to step down after two years.
Meanwhile Anwar took to Facebook to say that he and Dr Mahathir had just met for more than an hour.
He said he had mentioned that Dr Mahathir should be given space to lead with Pakatan Harapan’s full support and longer than the agreed timeline.
“I reported the findings of my meeting with Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte and India’s Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi,” said Anwar.
He said he had found similarities in Dr Mahathir’s approach and his own approach to bilateral matters with Singapore and in their focus on economy especially with regards to poverty.
Source: NST Online
Anwar will hold Tun M to ransom on unity coalition plan https://t.co/cvyeYio3dN
— Raggie Jessy Rithaudeen (@RaggieJessy) January 2, 2019
