Zaid not surprised Dr M's 'anointed' successors viewed as failures

Zaid Ibrahim is not surprised that the two premiers who succeeded Dr Mahathir Mohamad were regarded as failures.

The former law minister said the problem was with the process of anointing successors instead of these leaders being chosen.

“In a democracy, the people choose their leader. If we have the practice of the incumbent anointing the successor, then that is not democracy.

“No wonder we have problems where successors anointed by the incumbent were regarded as failures or not good enough,” he told Malaysiakini this evening.

He was commenting on Mahathir's remarks in an interview with the Financial Times where the premier said he did not wish to make “another mistake” in choosing a successor.

After Mahathir stepped down in 2003, ties between his handpicked successor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and him had soured.

Mahathir played an instrumental role in pushing for Abdullah's resignation following BN's dismal performance in the 2008 general election and endorsed Najib Abdul Razak for the top post.

However, a subsequent falling out with Najib led Mahathir to collaborate with his former political adversaries DAP and PKR president Anwar Ibrahim in the last general election.

Prior to the general election, Pakatan Harapan said the agreement would be for Mahathir to become prime minister and Anwar to succeed him.

Following the coalition's historic win, there has been intense speculation as to whether this succession plan would materialise despite both Mahathir and Anwar's repeated assurances.

Zaid: Anwar was selected, not anointed

Meanwhile, Zaid said for Anwar to become a worthy prime minister, he must be selected by the Harapan leadership and not because he was anointed like those before him.

“And in Anwar's case, the Harapan coalition picked him to be prime minister even before Mahathir came into the picture,” he pointed out.

In the Financial Times interview, Mahathir, 94, reiterated that he would pass the baton to Anwar as promised and would step down before the next general election despite numerous quarters wanting him to serve out his full term.

In responding to a question, Mahathir also agreed that he is perhaps still the best person to helm the nation at the moment and denied there was a set timeframe for his retirement.

“No, there was no actual date or time mentioned.

“The actual time I'll be there depends on problems that we face [...] they want me to solve that(country's financial) problem before I step down,” he said.

Commenting on this, Zaid said: “Is he (Mahathir) the best? That question can only be answered by the leaders of Harapan. I don’t know enough about the problems we have. - Mkini