Must try to find common ground to reclaim the electoral mandate granted by the rakyat in the 2018 general election.
The transition of power from Dr Mahathir Mohamad to Anwar Ibrahim will be put in writing and agreed to by all “Pakatan Plus” parties, said Amanah and DAP, assuring PKR that its president will become prime minister should the pact retake Putrajaya.
In a joint statement today, Amanah president Mohamad Sabu and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng acknowledged PKR’s rejection of the option to nominate Dr Mahathir as prime minister and Anwar as his deputy, with a handover after six months.
They stressed that Pakatan Harapan, which comprises their parties and PKR, must “stay on the same page” as Dr Mahathir and his supporters in Bersatu, as well as coalition ally Parti Warisan Sabah, under the Pakatan Plus banner to restore the mandate given by the people in 2018.
“Even though Dr Mahathir, Warisan and PKR cannot agree with one another, all parties in PH, Warisan and Dr Mahathir’s grouping must try to find common ground to reclaim the electoral mandate granted by the rakyat in the 2018 general election.
“We have been consistently supporting Anwar as prime minister of Malaysia since 1998 and will continue to do so.
“Based on the current political scenario, the only realistic option of success is to combine the strength of all five parties.
“This political journey has taken 22 years; we can afford to wait another six months to see Anwar installed as the 10th prime minister of Malaysia. The six-month transition shall be documented in writing, signed by all party leaders and publicly announced.”
Adding that both their parties had worked hard over the last three months to find a common ground acceptable to all, they voiced hope that PKR and Mahathir, together with Warisan, would not drift further apart.
“Seeing each other as rivals instead of allies will not help the rakyat’s cause and only aid those who successfully deposed an elected government with an unelected one,” the pair added.
Mohamad and Lim said it was unfair to label them as power crazy in their efforts to find the best way to reclaim Putrajaya.
“This is unfair because while we are not afraid to be in opposition, the rakyat voted for us in 2018 to be the government.
“This is a sacred mission to uphold democracy and the value of the millions of Malaysians who voted for a change of government to get rid of a corrupt and kleptocratic administration involving tens of billions of US dollars,” they added.
Their pledge to have the matter confirmed in writing, with a fixed deadline and public announcement, is a long way from PH’s vague promise two years ago that Dr Mahathir would hand over the reins to Anwar mid-term.
The first transition plan’s lack of clarity led to disputes, and the PH administration eventually collapsed in late February.
Pakatan Plus is at odds over its prime minister candidate for the next general election, due in 2023, or should snap polls be called earlier.
The impasse over the opposition bloc’s prime minister candidate has also spilled over into public tiffs and differing stances among Harapan leaders.
Dr Mahathir is the favoured pick by all parties in the alliance except for PKR, which, nevertheless, said it will still work with him to wrest federal control from Perikatan Nasional.
Mohamad and Lim said Amanah and DAP’s machinery will be mobilised in preparation for possible snap polls.
They also said there should be “no transactional deals” with former PH leaders whom they said were responsible for “deposing an elected PH government and bringing in an unelected Perikatan Nasional government”.
Earlier today, PKR Youth’s vice-chief Syed Badli Shah Syed Osman said there was no guarantee that Mahathir would not switch sides to “traitors” in his quest to return to power for the third time.
He said Mahathir himself was struggling to get support from MPs, adding that he was unsurprised by rumours of secret talks between Mahathir and “traitors”, a term PKR uses for its former deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali and those who supported him in the February coup that brought down the PH government.
Yesterday, Anwar said there were feelings of mistrust among PH leaders about Mahathir being named as the coalition’s prime ministerial candidate again in the event of a return to federal power.
Last Friday, DAP’s Anthony Loke and Amanah’s Khalid Samad released a statement stating Anwar failed to secure support from GPS in order to retake Putrajaya.
The duo also said they were puzzled by PKR’s refusal to back Mahathir as a prime minister candidate, claiming the party had agreed to it during a Harapan meeting on May 30.
DAP and Amanah are in favour of Mahathir having a third stint as the prime minister for six months with Anwar as his deputy.
Mahathir’s allies have argued that he was more palatable to the East Malaysian bloc, which is instrumental in the formation of any majority.
However, PKR has refused to accept this.
Despite Pakatan Harapan’s stalemate over its prime minister candidate in the event of snap polls, Amanah and DAP have pledged to continue addressing the people’s concerns as part of their responsibility as the opposition.
“As members of PH, we will continue to perform our duty to the rakyat, and the millions who voted for change (in the 2018 general election).
“The post-Covid-19 economic crisis is so severe in its impact on business revenue and job losses that we must be the rakyat’s voice and defender to ensure that government funds are utilised to help them, and are not lost through leakage and malpractice.”
They said the need to extend the moratorium on bank loans by six months and the people’s anger over the steep rise in their electricity bills are “symptomatic of the PN government’s failure to address the plight of the rakyat suffering from the Covid-19 economic crisis”.