Analysts: Mahathir must forgo PM hattrick dream
Several political analysts have ventured that Dr Mahathir Mohamad has little choice but to give way to his former rival and current opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim as Pakatan Harapan's ninth prime minister candidate.
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) associate professor Azmi Hassan said the former prime minister has to be aware that he had little power to determine PKR’s position within the Pakatan Harapan coalition.
Several political analysts have ventured that Dr Mahathir Mohamad has little choice but to give way to his former rival and current opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim as Pakatan Harapan's ninth prime minister candidate.
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) associate professor Azmi Hassan said the former prime minister has to be aware that he had little power to determine PKR’s position within the Pakatan Harapan coalition.
“There is no choice for Mahathir other than to forget his ambition of becoming prime minister for the third time.
“He must determine his priority, whether to topple Perikatan Nasional or become prime minister as he cannot achieve both at the same time for now,” Azmi told Malaysiakini.
He added the choice of whether PKR remained in Harapan did not lie with Mahathir but with Harapan and PKR themselves.
This comes after disputed Bersatu chairperson Mahathir said he was prepared to end his working relationship with PKR if it continued to oppose his candidature for the prime minister post.
The nonagenarian said he will continue to work with DAP and Amanah since the two parties have supported him for the top post. PKR, DAP and Amanah currently form the Harapan coalition.
Negotiations for the opposition parties to wrest Putrajaya back from PN under the informal alliance of Pakatan Harapan Plus have been at an impasse over their prime minister candidate.
If they succeed in amassing enough parliamentarian support, Mahathir, 95, has proposed that he be allowed to return as premier for six months before finally handing over the reins to PKR chief Anwar, 72.
PKR, however, has rejected this proposal in favour of the original “Harapan consensus” that Anwar is its prime minister candidate.
During the two-year Harapan term in office, the period was rife with uncertainties that Mahathir would honour the succession pact to hand over power to Anwar.
Meanwhile, Universiti Malaya (UM) Profesor Awang Azman Awang Pawi felt it would be difficult for DAP and Amanah to continue working with Mahathir without PKR.
He also opined that Mahathir and his allies would not be able to last long in the current political current if they end ties with Anwar’s party.
“In this situation, Mahathir’s choice, if he truly decides to end ties with PKR, is to go it alone with Bersatu Hitam,” he said, referring to the protest ‘blackout the Bersatu logo' in support of Mahathir and his faction.
Awang added: “There is no way DAP, Amanah would want a lengthy cooperation with Tun (Mahathir) without PKR. Without PKR, Amanah and DAP will not have a big impact on the national landscape.”
DAP and Amanah would also be a political burden on each other, he said.
“The big burden would be when Harapan supporters question why they (DAP and Amanah) did not support Anwar, an ally during tough and good times, compared to Mahathir who was only an ally for a short time.”
Additionally, he pointed out that the number of Bersatu leaders who support Mahathir were not as high as those supporting Muhyiddin in PN.
Mohd Azizuddin Mohd Sani from Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), meanwhile, said he cannot foresee any cooperation in Harapan Plus being established without Mahathir compromising with Anwar.
The reality, he claimed, was that support for Mahathir, who is also Langkawi MP, was waning.
“The solution lies with them (Mahathir and Anwar) both,” he said.
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) distinguished professor Shamsul Amri Baharuddin concurred and opined that Mahathir had few supporters among the Harapan leadership.
“He can threaten. But his dream of becoming the ninth premier is dead and buried,” he said.
Bersatu is no longer part of the Harapan coalition that won the GE14 back in 2018 after party president Muhyiddin Yassin pulled the party out against Mahathir’s wishes last February.
Mahathir, prime minister at the time, resigned as a result and this led to the collapse of the Harapan government.
Muhyiddin later joined forces with Umno, PAS, GPS, PBS and Star and a group of PKR defectors to form PN and was sworn in as the country’s eighth prime minister.
Prior to GE14, Mahathir served as the country’s fourth prime minister from 1981-2003 as head of Umno and BN, during which time Anwar was his deputy before their infamous falling out which resulted in Anwar’s sacking from the cabinet and ultimate jailing in 1999.
Do these analysts accept the joint statement made by Loke and Khalid on the meeting chaired by Anwar on 30th May?Option one was that if Anwar could bag GPS then he would be PM.If not under option 2 Tun becomes PM if he could get majority MPs to pass the motion of no confidence on Moo. Can any of the analysts say that Tun refused to give way to Anwar? Is it not a question of who could get the support of MPs? If Warisan and GPS have confidence in Tun and not Anwar,can Tun force them to support Anwar?Is PMship an inheritance that could be handed down or must Anwar get MPs support to be PM under the constitution?
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