Is It PKR Or Mahathir Who Decides The DPM?

So, Wan Azizah is as much to blame as Mahathir is for Anwar not becoming Malaysia’s new Deputy Prime Minister. While we can understand Mahathir’s reasons, Wan Azizah’s reason for blocking Anwar from becoming the Deputy Prime Minister is quite a mystery.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

I remember back in the 1980s, when Anwar Ibrahim was the Minister of Education, I asked him why Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad still retained Samy Vellu as the Works Minister. Anwar just laughed (he knew why I had asked that) and said that the post of Works Minister was given to MIC. Hence it is up to MIC to decide their candidate. Umno cannot interfere in that decision, the same as MIC cannot interfere in cabinet posts reserved for Umno.

A couple of days ago, Mahathir said, according to the ‘agreement’, the post of Menteri Besar of Johor ‘belongs’ to PPBM. So PPBM will decide who becomes the new Menteri Besar to replace Osman Sapian. The same goes for the other states such as Kedah, Penang, Perak, Selangor, and so on. The party is given the post and the party decides the candidate of Menteri Besar (or Chief Minister). Even the Sultan has no say, argued Mahathir.

Anyway, for the first time since 1957, the post of Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister do not belong to the same party (up to May 2018 both those posts belonged to Umno). According to the ‘agreement’ (as Mahathir put it), the post of Prime Minister goes to PPBM while the post of Deputy Prime Minister goes to PKR. Then DAP and Amanah are given cabinet posts accordingly and each respective party decides their candidates.

Mat Sabu would never have become a Minister, let alone the Defence Minister, if it was up to Mahathir

For example, Amanah is given the post of Defence Minister and it is up to Amanah who they want as the Minister of Defence. Mahathir cannot insist on the candidate. If he could, then Mat Sabu would never have been appointed the Minister of Defence.

And the same goes for the post of Deputy Prime Minister. That post is reserved for PKR and PKR decides who they want as the Deputy Prime Minister. And, in this case, they wanted Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail. It was either her or Azmin Ali and no way would Anwar Ibrahim, Wan Azizah and Nurul Izzah agree to Azmin as the Deputy Prime Minister.

But then Mahathir being Mahathir, he created a new Ministry, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, and since there is no prior ‘agreement’ as to which party gets that ministry, he appointed Azmin Ali as the new Minister of Economic Affairs.

There was really nothing PKR could do to block Azmin’s appointment, not only to the Cabinet but to a very important Ministry — which sort of duplicates ‘DAP’s Ministry’, the Finance Ministry.

Is it Mahathir’s choice or PKR’s choice that Wan Azizah be appointed the Deputy Prime Minister?

So, the issue here is, is it PKR or Mahathir who decides who becomes the Deputy Prime Minister? According to PKR, it is the party’s choice and Mahathir cannot interfere in this decision. If PKR says they want Wan Azizah as the Deputy Prime Minister then Mahathir has to appoint Wan Azizah. He cannot reject the party’s choice and appoint Azmin Ali as the new Deputy Prime Minister — who would, by far, be a better candidate than Wan Azizah.

Now, since Anwar is now a Member of Parliament, he can legally hold office. So why can’t Wan Azizah resign as the Deputy Prime Minister and PKR tell Mahathir that the party’s new candidate for Deputy Prime Minister is Anwar? Mahathir will have no choice but to replace Wan Azizah with Anwar.

Interesting question, is it not?

Why will Wan Azizah not resign and allow Anwar to take over as the new Deputy Prime Minister?

According to talk within the corridors of power, Wan Azizah is prepared to resign and allow the post of Deputy Prime Minister to go to her husband. But Mahathir advised her to stay on at least until two years and then resign. Then she can enjoy the pension of a Deputy Prime Minister.

How much extra money every month are we talking about? RM100? RM500? RM1,000?

Surely that extra monthly pension is too small an issue to decide the future of the country. Rameli Musa or Robert Kuok would happily ‘reimburse’ Wan Azizah for her ‘loss’ in pension if she resigns today and allows Anwar to take over as the new Deputy Prime Minister. After all, how much is it going to cost Rameli Musa and Robert Kuok?

Actually, Mahathir does not want Anwar as the Deputy Prime Minister. Having Anwar as his number two would be like inviting the fox into the hen house. The farther away Anwar is from Seri Perdana the better. Anwar standing behind you opens you to the danger of being sodomised (figure of speech of course, not literally).

It appears that Mahathir and Wan Azizah are collaborating to block Anwar from becoming the number two

But it is not just Mahathir. Wan Azizah can easily throw in her resignation letter and leave Mahathir with no choice. Once Wan Azizah resigns and PKR submits Anwar’s name as the new Deputy Prime Minister (like in the case of Johor today), Mahathir will be forced to appoint Anwar as Malaysia’s new Deputy Prime Minister.

So, Wan Azizah is as much to blame as Mahathir is for Anwar not becoming Malaysia’s new Deputy Prime Minister. While we can understand Mahathir’s reasons, Wan Azizah’s reason for blocking Anwar from becoming the Deputy Prime Minister is quite a mystery.

Maybe the rumours about the strained relationship between Anwar and Wan Azizah could be true after all. There is even talk that Anwar physically abuses Wan Azizah. But then those are just rumours, and we cannot always believe rumours. If not then we would end up believing the rumour that Husam Musa saw the RM90 million cheque that Umno paid PAS or that there are two pink diamond rings that two people named Rosmah Mansor bought.