AS ANWAR THANKS DR M, SOUR GRAPES HISHAM SAYS ‘UP TO THE PEOPLE TO DECIDE’ IF ANWAR OR NAJIB WOULD BE THE BETTER PM: BUT THE PEOPLE HAVE ALREADY DECIDED – THAT’S WHY UMNO GOT KICKED OUT OF POWER, HISHAM HAS LOST HIS JOB & NAJIB GOING TO JAIL

WHETHER Anwar Ibrahim would make a better prime minister than Najib Razak is for the people to decide, Umno leader Hishammuddin Hussein said.

“That (Anwar is better) is Dr Mahathir’s opinion but in the end it is up to the people to decide. For now, the question of who is the better of the two is not important as what matters now is that he (Dr Mahathir) is the prime minister.

“Let him carry out his responsibility of leading the country until the people decides on a new prime minister,” the Sembrong MP told reporters while campaigning in Rantau today.

The former defence minister said Dr Mahathir Mohamad should carry out his duties until it is time for him to hand over the reins to his successor, widely tipped to be Anwar.

Dr Mahathir Mohamad in an interview with the New Straits Times today said working with former foe Anwar was preferable to allowing Najib to continue ruining the country.

He said stopping Najib was why he had decided to team up with Anwar before the general election  last year.

Dr Mahathir was explaining why he had chosen to work with the PKR president after previously saying Anwar was not fit to be a leader.

“Well, that was before. Yes, I did say that. But between Najib and Anwar, I think Najib is a worse leader than Anwar. The worst leader.

“To have Anwar replace a person like Najib is more acceptable than to have Najib carry on, so I decided that I would work Anwar, whatever I may have said about him before, whatever he has said against me before.

“I thought that our working together was far more important, in order to displace Najib, than for us to quarrel, because I knew if we didn’t work together, Najib would (continue as) prime minister and that would be disastrous for the country,” he said in the interview.

Dr Mahathir’s right, I’ll make a better PM than Najib, says Anwar

ANWAR Ibrahim agrees that he would make a better prime minister than Najib Razak.

“Dr Mahathir is right,” Anwar told reporters on a walkabout today.

He was referring to the prime minister’s statement to the New Straits Times that the Reformasi leader would make a far better leader than Najib.

“I read the interview and I would like to thank Mahathir,” he said.

Anwar said Najib will go down in history as the worst prime minister based on his track record, including for his poor stewardship of the country’s finances.

In the interview published today, Dr Mahathir Mohamad was asked for his opinion of Anwar, whom he had sacked as deputy prime minister in 1998 and later had jailed, but with whom he has reconciled to muster cooperation to successfully oust Najib.

“Between (former prime minister) Najib Abdul Razak and Anwar, I think Najib is a worse leader than Anwar. The worst leader,” he was quoted as saying.

“I think that to have Anwar replace a person like Najib is more acceptable than to have Najib carry on, so I decided that I would work with Anwar – whatever I may have said about him before, what he has said about me before.

“I thought that our working together was far more important in order to displace Najib than it was for us to quarrel because I knew if we didn’t work together, Najib would be the prime minister and that would be disastrous for the country,” Dr Mahathir had said.

Anwar is currently drumming up support for Pakatan Harapan in the April 13 Rantau by-election.

The polls is a four-cornered contest between PH’s Dr S. Streram, BN’s Mohamad Hasan, who is the former Negri Sembilan menteri besar and acting Umno president, and two independent candidates R. Malarvizhi and Mohd Nor Yassin.

THE MALAYSIAN INSIGHT