Better for Harapan to be good opposition than back Dr M as PM - PKR veep
INTERVIEW | PKR has drawn up a set of “parameters” and intends to stand by them as it takes a stab at staging a counter-coup against Perikatan Nasional.
According to a top party leader, “starting afresh” without Dr Mahathir Mohamad as the premier is one of its key conditions.
In an online interview with Malaysiakini today, vice-president Chang Lih Kang (above) listed the three parameters - not having Mahathir at the helm, ensuring that MPs who crossover to the opposition bloc agree with its “reform agenda” and getting consensus among all three Harapan component parties before accepting these crossovers.
INTERVIEW | PKR has drawn up a set of “parameters” and intends to stand by them as it takes a stab at staging a counter-coup against Perikatan Nasional.
According to a top party leader, “starting afresh” without Dr Mahathir Mohamad as the premier is one of its key conditions.
In an online interview with Malaysiakini today, vice-president Chang Lih Kang (above) listed the three parameters - not having Mahathir at the helm, ensuring that MPs who crossover to the opposition bloc agree with its “reform agenda” and getting consensus among all three Harapan component parties before accepting these crossovers.
Elaborating, Chang contended that having PKR president Anwar Ibrahim as prime minister would allow Harapan a clean slate to implement reforms and win back popular support.
“We disagree (with having) Mahathir as PM not so much because we want our president (Anwar) to be the PM but we think if we are given one more chance to be in government again, there should be a fresh start.
“As we have seen in the 22 months of the Harapan government, there were a lot of problems and some mistakes. We were once very popular among the people after GE14 in 2018 but we were very hated in the Tanjong Piai by-election [...].
“So if we govern again, we should get rid of these problems and start afresh. And that’s why we should not ask Mahathir to be PM again for the third time otherwise we will be back at square one which is to be very hated by the voters,” he said.
Chang opined that allowing Mahathir six months at the helm before a power transition to Anwar was untenable especially during a health and economic crisis when stable leadership was needed.
“If we are given a chance to govern again, it will be a post-Covid-19 scenario and it will be a short period before GE15.
“I don’t see any rationale or justification for Mahathir to squander six months and then pass it to Anwar. And then Anwar will need to start again after six months. I think it’s not justifiable,” he said.
Rather be good opposition
PKR’s insistence for Anwar and rejection of Mahathir has proved to be a stumbling block for the opposition’s race against time to overthrow PN.
Its allies - DAP and Amanah - initially endorsed Anwar on condition that he could muster enough MPs to give them a majority.
After PKR missed its June 16 target, the parties now want the party to consider Mahathir as the PM candidate instead.
Mahathir’s allies have argued that he has the clout to win over East Malaysian MPs - an instrumental bloc.
Today, Chang said PKR was still “trying very hard” to execute the counter-coup as per its parameters and with Anwar as its one and only PM candidate.
However, should the plan fail, he would rather Harapan remain a “good opposition” than allowing Mahathir to helm the opposition bloc and be premier a third time.
“We will try our best but if we can’t get there, then we can’t get there. So be it. We just need to accept the fact that we don’t have the numbers,” he said.
“We have already set our parameters and we are abiding by it. We have decided no Mahathir, means no Mahathir as PM,” he added.
No rush, no timeframe
According to the Tanjong Malim MP, PKR has yet to “exhaust all avenues” in its pursuit to secure enough support.
As for what DAP and Amanah have claimed, Chang contended that it was “premature” to say Anwar had failed to convince Sarawakian MPs to back him as the PM.
“We are still talking to many people. The effort to overthrow the backdoor government is still ongoing,” he said.
He said PKR had no timeline for its talks nor was it “in a rush” but assured that Harapan would mount a counter-coup only once it had secured a “comfortable majority”.
To Chang, this meant anything more than 115 seats. Harapan presently has 106 seats while PN has 116 seats.
Asked whether PKR had tried convincing Mahathir to back Anwar as the PM candidate, Chang admitted that such efforts have failed thus far.
“But we will try again in the future. At the same time, we will try other means by approaching other blocs,” he said.
Related report:
Party veep: PKR not cobbling secret deals behind Harapan’s back
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