exclusive Anwar Ibrahim has only two options if he still harbour the ambition to be prime minister - either rejoin ruling party Umno or lead a reformed opposition Islamic party PAS.

This is a piece of advice from Umno stalwart Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah - the man who almost ousted then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad as Umno leader two decades ago.

According to Razaleigh, Anwar has "no place in mainstream politics" if the ex-deputy Umno leader was to choose to continue his political career in the opposition Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).

"He came to see me, and I advised him if you want to get back to mainstream politics, or want to be prime minister, you should go back to Umno. How? He has to work it out. I am not to advise him.

"If he wants to play opposition politics, then he should become PAS president and change PAS," added Razaleigh in a 70-minute interview with malaysiakini last week at his palatial home-cum-office in Ampang dubbed as the 'White House'.

"Unless PAS changes its face and ways, it won't capture the imagination of young people. And the non-Muslims won't respond to it if it goes on this kind of conservative attitude. So I said: "You go into PAS and become president and change PAS."

"Like this man (Prime Minister Tayyip Edrogan) in Turkey, (his party) was an old Islamic party led by people in jubah (robes) and he changed it into a progressive Islamic party."

Razaleigh claimed Anwar "kept quiet but agreed" with his advice. Describing Anwar as quite a "maverick", he said he would not write him off.

Anwar's choice of seat

Anwar, who was once heir apparent to Mahathir before their fallout in 1998 is now the adviser for PKR, a multi-racial opposition party led by his wife, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

When asked about Anwar's future in PKR, Razaleigh appeared to be at a loss for words, pondered on the question for a while before answering.

"PKR is only a Kuala Lumpur party, and it's not a Malay party, it's a mismatch, along with the socialist crowd - the Parti Rakyat Malaysia that has been rejected by the people."

He was referring to the merger of PRM and Keadilan three years ago.

Razaleigh was a heartbeat away from becoming prime minister in 1987 after a power struggle within Umno in which he challenged Mahathir for party president and lost by a wafer-thin majority of 43 votes.

Ku Li's political future

Razaleigh, 69, was however more reserved when talking about his own political future, although there is no signal that he would retire from politics any time soon.

He said he would leave it to the party to decide whether he should stand again in the next general elections. He is currently member of Parliament for Gua Musang in Kelantan.

Asked on whether he would contest for the Umno president post - his third in his three-decade long political career - in the upcoming party polls, he replied: "That depends on Umno members, isn't it?"

He nevertheless added later that he had no such plans and reiterated that his challenge against Prime Minister Abdullah Abdullah Badawi in the last Umno polls was to prove that democracy was not dead in the party.

Razaleigh had offered himself for the Umno presidency in 2004 after the party resolved that the top two posts should not be contested. He however failed to secure the required nominations, which is 30 percent of Umno divisions.

Not surprisingly, he wanted to do away with the quota system - where candidates intending to contest top party top posts have to obtain a required number of nominations to qualify for contest.

"You don't need all these things. You talk about removing the tongkat , but you yourself are protected by that quota. You don't need that," he said.

Meanwhile, Razaleigh, who served a stint as finance minister, said he would not "say what he has in mind yet" on Abdullah's performance as prime minister.

However, he said he was concerned over the lack of direction in the country's economy.

Tomorrow: Expect economic woes soon

Part 1

Ku Li: Let Dr M speak at special Umno meet

Q&A: Mahathir 'must get what he wants'

Photos by Kuek Ser Kuang Keng