Pakatan Harapan’s choice of "recycled" candidates as the prime minister and deputy prime minister shows that the party lacks credible leaders.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Azalina Othman Said said this shows the party was not confident of its younger leaders and refused to promote them.

“I have said many times that Pakatan Harapan is a recycling party because they recycle leaders who were previously from Umno, when they have many young leaders of calibre.

“So either they do not have credible leaders or they are not confident of the ones they have or they are using former Umno leaders just to seize power so even the recycled ones will do,” she told reporters after an official visit to Amanah Raya Berhad in Kuala Lumpur today.

She was commenting on Harapan’s choice of Dr Mahathir Mohamed as prime minister and Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as deputy prime minister if it wins in the coming general election.

Azalina said Harapan’s choice of recycled leaders also showed that the party is using the "backward" approach while BN is forward-looking and does not sideline the younger generation.

“Even though we do not know how many young faces will be fielded, the prime minister (Najib Abdul Razak) has repeatedly stressed the National Transformation 2050 (TN50) issue... we are looking forward to the young leading, to the youth to inherit.”

Meanwhile, in a separate media statement, Azalina described the opposition as hypocrites and unprincipled as they often made "U-turns".

“Since the beginning, Harapan has shown how hypocritical the opposition is, conveniently choosing to forget the accusations hurled at the former prime minister (Mahathir).

“The opposition had on many occasions urged the MACC to investigate the unusual wealth of Mahathir’s children, but today, they have appointed him as their leader,” she said.

She added that the opposition had also previously proposed limiting the prime minister’s tenure to two terms, but once again made a U-turn when they named Mahathir as prime minister for the sixth term.

“The unprincipled attitude of the opposition is making the people lose confidence in Harapan as a party which can look after their interests, and Harapan will only be left hoping,” she said.

- Bernama