PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim is worried that Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia's (Bersatu) proposal to occupy both the position of chairperson and president in Pakatan Harapan may make the opposition coalition's structure too similar to BN.

"The concern with Bersatu's proposal to revamp Harapan's structure, in which its top leaders would control the positions of chairperson and president, is that the new Harapan structure will become similar to BN," the jailed leader said in a statement released through his party.

Bersatu had reportedly proposed that its chairperson and former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and party president Muhyiddin Yassin be made Harapan chairperson and president respectively, in a Harapan presidential council meeting last Friday.

Anwar said he therefore invites Harapan leaders to review and amend the proposal to maintain Harapan's consensus-based structure.

"Pakatan Harapan must maintain its tradition of discussion and consensus, like in (now-defunct opposition coalition) Pakatan Rakyat. 

"All party chiefs are of equal positions and the chairperson only acts as a coordinator.

"All preparations and meeting agendas should be handled by a joint secretariat comprising representatives from all parties," he said.

Anwar also acknowledged the need for the opposition coalition to capitalise on Mahathir's influence.

"To achieve the goal of consolidating our strengths as a solid team against Umno-BN, it is appropriate to ensure the effective participation of all leaders.

"This includes making use of Mahathir's position and role," he said.

However,  Anwar said it was unwise to make any assumptions until all party leaders came to a consensus and a final decision had been made.

Harapan was supposed to have finalised its structure last week, in order to register the coalition with the Registrar of Societies.

However, the decision was postponed in order to obtain feedback from Anwar over Bersatu's proposal.

During the discussions, Bersatu had reportedly made concessions, agreeing that PKR president Wan Azizah Wan Ismail would be the president of Harapan instead of Muhyiddin.

However, Bersatu was adamant that Mahathir should be made chairperson.

Anwar, in his statement, did not appear to oppose this particular demand by Bersatu, although he expressed a wish for the position to be occupied in a "coordination" capacity instead of being an executive role as desired by Bersatu.