Anwar: No race will be denied the right to become top leaders

Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim

KUALA LUMPUR — Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim brushed aside the possible candidacy of DAP’s Lim Kit Siang as Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) deputy prime minister today, promising instead that every leader would be given the same opportunity to take up the post.

“We are not here to deny the right of any qualified citizen — Malay, Chinese, Indian, Kadazan, Iban — from becoming or assuming the office of the DPM,” he told reporters in a press conference in Parliament this afternoon.

He pledged that PR leaders would decide by way of consensus on the issue, adding that the issue of race would not be a consideration.

“We do not place our emphasis on the race of the candidate. We will not reject the person just because he or she is Chinese. That is not my stand,” he said.

Anwar was responding to reports that he had allegedly said in an interview with Sin Chew Daily that Lim would be chosen as the deputy prime minister should the opposition bloc wrest Putrajaya in the next general election.
- Malaysian Insider