Anwar: Now we know what Dr M had in mind for 'transition'
PKR president Anwar Ibrahim said he had always believed Dr Mahathir Mohamad would hand over the premiership to the former.
"It's true. Now we know. At the time we didn't know. (We thought he was a) man of honour. You gave a commitment publicly, we believed you.
"Somehow or rather, he says...
PKR president Anwar Ibrahim said he had always believed Dr Mahathir Mohamad would hand over the premiership to the former.
"It's true. Now we know. At the time we didn't know. (We thought he was a) man of honour. You gave a commitment publicly, we believed you.
"Somehow or rather, he says 'no, no, no... that is not what I meant. You (have to) prove (majority support) yourself'," said Anwar (above, left) in an interview Sin Chew Daily published today.
Mahathir (above, right), on behalf of Bersatu, had signed an agreement on January 2018 which nominated him as Pakatan Harapan's candidate for prime minister.
That agreement stated that he would make way for Anwar to succeed him, but no date was set.
The transition became a focal point of much of the Harapan government's 22-month rule, coming to a head in mid-February this year.
Following the collapse of the Harapan government in late-February, Mahathir has publicly said many times that he would have stepped down as prime minister after November.
But at no point did he state he was committed to ensuring that his party would support Anwar as his successor.
During the interview, Anwar accused Mahathir of being fully aware of the plot by Bersatu leaders to withdraw from Harapan to form a new government, but did nothing to stop it.
Anwar said this was evident from the leaked audio recordings of Bersatu meetings.
According to Bersatu supreme council member Wan Saiful Wan Jan (photo), who was part of many such meetings, Mahathir had never wanted to hand over the reins to Anwar and was open to cooperating with Umno and PAS instead of DAP and PKR.
Wan Saiful claimed that Mahathir had instructed Hamzah Zainuddin to initiate talks with Umno and PAS in 2019 to explore cooperation.
Mahathir has yet to respond to these allegations.
Anwar said that despite now knowing Mahathir's true feelings and intentions, he was still open to cooperating with the latter but will not support him as prime minister again.
"Forgiveness is a virtue. This is what Confucius once said and it is in line with Islamic teachings," said Anwar.
On Mahathir's claim that DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng had mooted Warisan president Mohd Shafie Apdal as a possible prime minister candidate, Anwar said he believed this narrative to be untrue.
"That is Mahathir's version. I believe Lim," said Anwar.
After the May 18 Dewan Rakyat sitting, Warisan, MPs loyal to Mahathir, DAP, and Amanah began mulling the possibility for forming a new government, initially proposing Mahathir as their prime ministerial candidate.
PKR refused to entertain the suggestion, following which Mahathir then announced that Shafie was the new candidate. PKR again refused to commit to this plan.
On whether Anwar "hated" his former deputy Mohamed Azmin Ali (photo) - a key figure in the collapse of the Harapan government - the former said: "I just smiled at him yesterday."
He was referring to the chance meeting with Azmin and Hishammuddin Hussein in Parliament on Thursday. Photographs of the exchange, where all three figures appeared candid and cordial, were widely shared on social media.
Asked for his thoughts on Azmin, Anwar replied: "Azmin has made mistakes. I don't agree with some of his policies... Let the people decide."
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