Shut up, PPBM man tells pro-Anwar group

Tariq Ismail, a member of the PPBM supreme council, says the group should “just shut up” and learn to contribute to the nation’s progress.

PETALING JAYA: A PPBM leader has censured the Otai Reformis group for saying it will set a specific date for Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s handover of the prime minister’s post to PKR president Anwar Ibrahim.

Tariq Ismail, a member of the PPBM supreme council, said the group should “just shut up” and learn to contribute to the nation’s progress.

Yesterday, Otai Reformis secretary Abdul Razak Ismail said the group was tired of Mahathir’s dilly dallying and would announce next week a date it would set for the transfer of power. He didn’t say whatOtai Reformis would do if Mahathir didn’t step down by that date.

Redzuan Yusof.

Speaking to FMT, Tariq said calls for Anwar to be PM were distracting and childish and served only to feed some egos.

“Mahathir is not dilly dallying,” he said. “He has to fix the country and he has already, time and again, reiterated that Anwar will succeed him.

“The economy should take precedence over any claim to the throne of Putrajaya. Setting dates here and there does not give confidence to the business community and foreign investors.”

Tariq also said Otai Reformis should keep in mind that MPs must agree to back the person whose name Mahathir would propose to the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong as his successor.

“So it’s not as simple as ‘let’s pick a date and abracadabra Anwar is PM.’”

Kamarul Zaman Yusoff

Another PPBM supreme council member, Entrepreneur Development Minister Redzuan Yusof, said Otai Reformis should encourage Anwar to work closely with Mahathir on rebuilding the nation.

He said Mahathir needed time to do “what he does best as an experienced leader” and added that he would like to see him complete a full term to ensure victory for Pakatan Harapan (PH) in the next general election.

He questioned whether Anwar would continue with Mahathir’s policies.

Political analyst Kamarul Zaman Yusoff of Universiti Utara Malaysia said Otai Reformis call would matter only if it came with a threat to take its dissatisfaction to the streets because it would then cause political instability.

Without such a threat, he added, only a decision by PH’s presidential council would carry weight.

Under a deal struck by PH leaders, Anwar is to succeed Mahathir as prime minister two years after the coalition’s takeover of power.

But Mahathir has said there is no definite date. - FMT