PAS is in favour of Dr Mahathir Mohamad staying on as prime minister for a full term over PKR president Anwar Ibrahim because the Islamist party believes Mahathir is not influenced by any party aside from his own Bersatu.

On the other hand, Anwar appears to be susceptible to the influence of forces other than PKR, claimed Tumpat MP Che Abdullah Mat Nawi, as reported by Free Malaysia Today.

“We are afraid that Anwar may be influenced by DAP and other parties,” said Che Abdullah, who is also the secretary of the Kelantan PAS liaison committee.

“PAS, Umno or DAP cannot influence (Mahathir),” he added.

His comments come after PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang recently announced his support for Mahathir to complete a full term as prime minister.

Meanwhile, PAS’ ally Umno has often described Mahathir as being DAP’s puppet or that he is being “fooled” by DAP.

Umno leaders who have voiced such opinions include party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, deputy president Mohamad Hasan and vice-president Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

Aside from that, Che Abdullah said PAS is concerned that Anwar seems to be lacking undivided support from PKR leaders, pointing to Mohamed Azmin Ali defending his deputy presidency in PKR “despite his lack of support” from the top.

“This means Azmin is not alone,” he said.

PAS had supported Azmin when he was the Selangor menteri besar because he was a “good man”, he said, adding that the power struggle within PKR is also not beneficial to the country.

“We want Pakatan Harapan to focus on issues affecting the rakyat.

“Because of that, we feel it is relatively better to let Mahathir remain as prime minister until the next general election,” Che Abdullah said.