Mahathir goes down memory lane amid stalemate with Anwar

 

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad went down memory lane amid a stalemate between PKR president Anwar Ibrahim and him.

This is amid finger-pointing as the relationship between Mahathir and Anwar continues to deteriorate after a brief reconciliation in 2016.

The latest spat started when Mahathir, in an interview, claimed Anwar was incapable of leading the country during a crisis.

This prompted PKR to blame Mahathir for the ongoing political instability after he resigned as prime minister without consulting Pakatan Harapan and also accused him of trying to scuttle the coalition's effort to regain power.

Mahathir, in a blog post today, defended his decision to resign as the prime minister.

He also reiterated his desire to help Harapan regain power but lamented Anwar's refusal to accept him.

"It is true that in the past, I was of the opinion that he (Anwar) was not qualified to become the prime minister.

"But when (former prime minister) Najib Abdul Razak became a kleptocrat, I was willing to work with Anwar to take down Najib.

"I did not object to Harapan's proposal for Anwar to replace me when I resign (as prime minister).

"But even before it was time, Anwar's followers started to pressure me to resign," he said.

Under the Harapan agreement, the coalition agreed to nominate Mahathir as the seventh prime minister on condition that he eventually handed over power to Anwar.

Mahathir also previously served as the fourth prime minister with Anwar as his deputy from 1993 until 1998 but the two had a falling out.

Mahathir later had Anwar sacked and jailed on sodomy and corruption charges.

They reconciled briefly in 2016 but had another falling out following the Sheraton Move in late February which saw the collapse of the Harapan government.

'Muhyiddin exploited pressure from Anwar's supporters'

Mahathir, who was also the Bersatu chairperson at the time, said amid Anwar's supporters pressuring him to step down as the seventh prime minister in late February, Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin used it to push for the party's exit from Harapan.

"On Feb 21, I was told by Muhyiddin and another of Bersatu leaders that during the Harapan presidential council meeting, I will be pressured to resign for Anwar to become prime minister. I would also supposedly be forced to appoint Anwar as deputy prime minister.

"Muhyiddin's purpose was for Bersatu to agree to quit Harapan so that the Harapan government would fall. Muhyiddin, (Gombak MP) Azmin Ali and (Larut MP) Hamzah Zainudin had planned to form a new government to replace Harapan," he said.

However, Mahathir said the alleged pressure he would face during the Harapan presidential council did not materialise.

"The malicious plan to reject me did not happen as claimed by Muhyiddin and his followers. I was of the opinion that there was no need for Bersatu to quit Harapan," he said.

Mahathir said he also appealed to Muhyiddin and Bersatu not to quit Harapan during a meeting on Feb 23.

"I proposed that the plan for Bersatu to quit Harapan to be postponed. I recommended that Bersatu wait and observe Harapan's move.

"But in short, the supreme council rejected my recommendation and decided to quit Harapan immediately. There were even people who slammed the table and strongly supported Muhyiddin to quit Harapan," he said.

"For me, the decision was final. It showed that confidence in me as the Bersatu chairperson had been lost. The decision also meant that Bersatu had quit Harapan and the Harapan government had fallen," he added.

Therefore, Mahathir said he decided to resign.

Muhyiddin formed a new alliance with the then opposition, including Umno and PAS, and was on March 1 sworn in as the new prime minister under a new Perikatan Nasional government.

Mahathir was eventually ousted from Bersatu when he refused to join the new government and condemned Muhyiddin for cooperating with "Umno criminals".

'I had the numbers if Harapan didn't back Anwar'

Mahathir said Harapan had an opportunity to regain Putrajaya when the Yang di-Pertuan Agong interviewed all MPs to determine who commanded a majority ahead of Muhyiddin's swearing-in.

At the time, Mahathir said he had the support of 66 MPs, and he could easily gain a new majority if 92 Harapan MPs also supported him.

However, Anwar convinced the Harapan MPs to support him instead.

"If all three parties in Harapan nominated me as their candidate (for prime minister), I would have 158 votes, including the 66 already supporting me.

"However, they supported Anwar. In the end, I lost, and Anwar failed," he said.

It was only then Harapan decided to support Mahathir again, but the Sarawak-based GPS and several other MPs had by then abandoned Mahathir.

"After Anwar's nomination failed, Harapan returned to support me as the prime ministerial candidate.

"Anwar agreed on the condition that he becomes deputy prime minister. I disagreed as I wanted to maintain the old cabinet.

"In the end, Anwar agreed to the effort to regain a majority for Harapan to return as the government. With support from the Sabah MPs, we would have 114.

"Unfortunately, by then, Muhyiddin managed to convince the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to appoint him as the prime minister," he said.

There have been defections in either direction since then.

At present, Muhyiddin commands the support of 112 MPs in the 222-member Dewan Rakyat. There are also two vacancies following the death of a government and opposition MP respectively.

Harapan is still trying to regain power, but the icy relationship between Mahathir and Anwar has been a stumbling block. - Mkini