Mahathir insists Harapan not straying from the middle

Pakatan Harapan chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad today denied that the coalition is straying from the middle ground.

"It is not straying away. That is the perception of people outside," he told a press conference after chairing the Bersatu supreme council meeting today.

Mahathir also said that he discussed ways to deal with internal attempts to split Harapan in his recent meeting with DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang and Johor DAP chief Liew Chin Tong.

"Well, there have been attempts to split us with certain issues, and some (Harapan) members – not cabinet members – did make some criticisms about the leadership.

"It looks like there is dissatisfaction with the present government. They are thinking about changes," he said.

"This is a very bad move, because if you do anything the whole party (coalition) will split up.

"It is important for us to show that we are united and we are following the promises we made when we formed the government," he added.

Beside Mahathir, Liew also met PKR president Anwar Ibrahim recently to discuss bringing all parties back to the middle.

At today's press conference, Mahathir noted that Malaysians seemed to be more pessimistic towards Harapan than this time last year. 

During last year's Merdeka Day celebrations, he said, people were excited to see that BN had been overthrown, but now feel let down because they expected more from the new government.

Mahathir said that achieving the promised results has been harder than anticipated, as Harapan could not foresee the depth of the problems the country was mired in.

He added that the previous BN administration had caused many to become dependent on handouts, which the present government cannot afford to replicate.

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