PKR president Anwar Ibrahim has denied claiming the existence of a conspiracy within Pakatan Harapan to stop him from succeeding Dr Mahathir Mohamad as the next prime minister.
“I never said that. No fake news will be entertained,” he told a press conference after the Harapan presidential council meeting in Kuala Lumpur this afternoon.
Also present were Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and Amanah president Mohamad Sabu.
Anwar was commenting on a Financial Times report, which quoted him as saying there are those who for their own reasons would like to sabotage the arrangement and that some people in the ruling coalition have a different agenda.
The PKR president said what he meant was that certain elements might disagree with the transition plan.
“It's a democratic process. What is important is that Harapan (has) agreed, and Mahathir and I have agreed (on the power transition),” he added.
The Financial Times report also noted how PKR deputy president Azmin Ali could be a stumbling block for Anwar to become the next prime minister.
“Azmin's people . . . may slow, or add uncertainty to, Anwar’s accession to the premiership in the hope this buys Azmin time to position himself as Mahathir’s successor instead,” it quoted Asia director at Eurasia Group Peter Mumford as stating.
Meanwhile, PKR lawmaker Wong Chen told Financial Times that Harapan MPs were anxious about the situation but most are confident that Anwar would become the next prime minister.
“The majority of us still believes the transition will happen where Anwar will assume the premiership at the end of 2019 or early 2020,” he added.
As for Azmin, Wong said the 54-year-old economic affairs minister might helm the nation in five or 10 years.
“He's still loyal to the party and hasn’t proved himself as a minister [yet],” added the Subang MP.
Prior to the general election, it was announced that Mahathir would hand over the leadership reins to Anwar after two years if Harapan comes to power.
However, Harapan secretary-general Saifuddin Abdullah yesterday reiterated that there is no official deadline.
The foreign minister said Mahathir and Anwar would decide the appropriate time for the baton to be passed.
The spotlight fell on the transition of power issue after Bersatu passed a motion at its recent annual meet for Mahathir to continue as prime minister until the next general election. -Mkini
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