No sabotage but some don’t agree that I become PM, says Anwar

DAP’s M Manogaran flanked by Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Anwar Ibrahim, after he was named Pakatan Harapan’s candidate for the upcoming Cameron Highlands by-election on Jan 26.

KUALA LUMPUR: PKR president Anwar Ibrahim today denied talking about a conspiracy within Pakatan Harapan (PH) to stop him from becoming the prime minister, a position promised to him under a deal inked by the coalition prior to the 14th general election last year.

He was asked about a report in the Financial Times, quoting him as saying that there are “pockets” of people from among the ruling coalition who were out to “sabotage these arrangements”.

“I can’t deny, some people in the ruling coalition [have] a different agenda,” Anwar was quoted as saying by the UK paper in an interview.

But the Port Dickson MP today denied speaking of “sabotage”.

“I never said that,” he told the media today after attending a meeting with PH chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad and other leaders.

“No fake news will be entertained. What I said was that you can’t deny some elements don’t agree. That is the democratic process,” he said.

Anwar said it was enough that the PH leadership, Mahathir and he had agreed to the plan to appoint him as the eighth prime minister.

When asked about a date for the transition of power, he said: “No issue.”

Mahathir, whose dramatic sacking of Anwar in 1998 sparked the Reformasi movement, made peace with his former deputy and protégé in 2016, and both men created the coalition that brought down Barisan Nasional in the May polls.

Under a deal struck by the PH leadership, Anwar, who handsomely won the Port Dickson by-election to mark his return to active politics, will succeed Mahathir as prime minister in two years’ time.

The issue was brought up again during the PPBM general assembly last week, when a delegate from Kelantan proposed that Mahathir remain as prime minister for the next five years, when the 15th general election is due.

“I made a promise, I will keep my promise. Some people think that the tenure is too short,” Mahathir had said in response.

At the press conference today, Mahathir also announced DAP’s M Manogaran as PH’s candidate for the Cameron Highlands by-election on Jan 26. - FMT