Amanah secretary-general Anuar Tahir agrees with former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad that the opposition need not name its potential candidate for prime minister for now.

"We agree with Mahathir. We believe that his opinion on this is good and Amanah supports him," Anuar said at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today.

He said Pakatan Harapan would not "dance to someone else's beat", such as Umno/BN leaders issuing challenges to them to name their candidate for prime minister or their shadow cabinet line-up.

"We feel we will not follow (the challenges). It (naming PM candidate) is not a priority," he added.

The main priority for Harapan and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), he said, was to convince the rakyat that they were more than qualified as a coalition to have the rakyat's trust and confidence.

The opposition coalition is filled with many people who are more than qualified to run a government, he said, so they could easily come up with their candidate for prime minister and shadow cabinet later.

"Why do we have to name them now? Why do we have to do the not so smart thing by naming our candidates now?" he questioned.

Mahathir had yesterday advised the opposition against naming their choice for prime minister for now, saying that it might cause quarrels among the opposition otherwise.

The prime minister candidate must be chosen by popular support from all opposition parties, he said, and not just by one party.

Previously, PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli had also urged the opposition to stop speculating about who would be the prime minister if the opposition wins the next general election, and to focus instead on bread and butter issues.

However, other Harapan leaders have insisted that this had to be done as it was a matter of public interest and would ensure the opposition stayed united if it came to power.

Deep concern over Aleppo situation

On a separate issue, Anuar and Amanah's Wanita chief Siti Mariah Mahmud expressed their deep concern over the current situation in Aleppo, Syria.

As such, Amanah has decided that it would start a fund collecting donations, called "Tabung Peduli Aleppo" (Care for Aleppo Fund) to be sent to those in need in that war-afflicted region.

Siti Mariah, who would be in charge of the fund, said they were not taking sides on the issue in Syria, but their only concern was for the civilians in Aleppo who were caught in the crossfire and had been encountering difficulties in the evacuation.

"We realise there are many funds (for Syria) already and we hopefully will work together with all of them to ensure this help reaches them (in Syria)," Siti Mariah said.

She called on members of the public to donate RM10 each to the fund, with the hope that they could reach their target of RM100,000 in two weeks.

Once they had achieved their target of RM100,000, she said they would send the money to NGOs that work directly with those in need in Syria.

To kick things off with the fund, both Anuar and she donated RM10 each to it at the press conference.

Siti Mariah said they would intensify their promotion of this fund, through social media and "e-advertising", starting today.

Depending on the response they receive, she said, they might choose to continue the fund after two weeks.