Anwar refutes claim he was made opposition leader to fend off Dr M

PKR president Anwar Ibrahim has refuted claims that he was made opposition leader to fend off any attempts for Bersatu chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad to lead the opposition.

He was responding to an article by The Star claiming that Anwar had pre-empted a motion to endorse Mahathir in the Dewan Rakyat by quickly claiming the position of opposition leader.

In a strongly-worded criticism of the article, the Port Dickson MP said the claim was untrue.

Anwar said Pakatan Harapan secretariat chief Saifuddin Nasution Ismail had written to the Dewan Rakyat speaker to inform that the coalition has chosen Anwar as the opposition leader on April 30.

However, he said a motion by Warisan president Mohd Shafie Apdal, who is also the Semporna MP, to initiate a vote of confidence for Mahathir was only submitted on May 4.

"We were informed about it on May 3," Anwar said in a Facebook live session.

Anwar said he only made public his nomination as opposition leader on May 5 but in actuality, it happened on April 30 when Harapan was still unaware of Shafie's motion.

Anwar claimed the article was aimed at sowing animosity.

"It was intended to incite animosity between Mahathir and me by making it appear that my appointment as the opposition leader was to sabotage the effort by others," he said.

Shafie's motion was seen as a roundabout way to show that Mahathir purportedly commands the majority support to become prime minister.

However, it was rejected by Dewan Rakyat speaker Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof.

Following the rejection, Mahathir, who is the Langkawi MP, had submitted a separate motion, this time specifically for a no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin which Ariff accepted.

However, the motion is unlikely to go to the floor as by convention, government motions get priority and motions from the opposition cannot precede.

The Star's article claimed Anwar "moved quickly to claim his palce as opposition leader" when he learnt about the motions.

"It was a signal to Dr Mahathir that he was welcomed in Pakatan but not as its leader.

"The rivalry between him and Anwar is still not over even though Mahathir is now going for the scalp of a third sitting prime minister," it said. - Mkini