Harapan sticks with two-DPM proposal from Pakatan days - Anwar

Editor's note: The story has been amended based on clarification from Anwar's office. The error is regretted.

Pakatan Harapan is maintaining its proposal to appoint two deputy prime ministers, the first representing both Sabah and Sarawak and the second from the peninsula.

Coalition chief Anwar Ibrahim said this pledge dated back to the Pakatan Rakyat days.

"This suggestion was from way back during the Pakatan era, that we would have a deputy prime minister from the peninsula, (one from) Sabah, and Sarawak.

"But if there are any changes, we will discuss it later," said Anwar in Tawau, Sabah, according to an audio recording shared with the media.

In a statement this morning, Anwar's press-secretary Tunku Nashrul Tunku Abaidah also clarified that Harapan's proposal was to appoint two, and not three deputy prime ministers.

Bernama had yesterday erroneously quoted Anwar as saying that Harapan also has a three-deputy prime minister proposal, similar to BN.

Anwar's remarks came after BN chief Ahmad Zahid Hamidi suggested that the latter coalition also make a similar offer as part of its 15th general election manifesto.

The three-deputy prime minister proposal was not part of Harapan's manifesto during the 2018 general election.

The deputy prime minister post is not defined in the Federal Constitution and thus there is no prohibition for a prime minister to appoint multiple deputies - or to forgo it as caretaker prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob has done.

While seemingly of high office, the deputy prime minister post on its own does not have any administrative or legal powers.

Instead, the deputy only gains some form of authority when serving as acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent - such as being abroad.

Thus, in practice, deputy prime ministers are usually also given a ministry to run in order for them to have administrative clout.

Zahid moots three DPMs if BN wins GE15

COMMENT | A country with 2 PMs and 4 DPMs

COMMENT | GE15: Road to perdition for Sheraton traitors

COMMENT | Can Anwar, the prime minister, be trusted?