PM confidence vote based on Hadi’s personal agenda - PKR man

A PKR leader suspects that PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang has a “personal agenda” in his push for Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to serve a full five-year term.

Speaking to Malaysiakini, PKR Terengganu chief Azan Ismail (above) said: “PAS has a different motive that is different from what they tell you. That motive is either to embarrass someone or to disturb the ruling government and thwart the power transition to (PKR president) Anwar Ibrahim.

“It could be a part of Hadi’s personality as well. We know that Hadi is upset at Anwar and blames him for the Kajang Move in 2014. Hadi was very angry because the Kajang Move was supposedly not discussed with him.”

This, Azan said, was shown when Hadi vehemently opposed electing Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as the Selangor menteri besar in 2014.

Azan also alleged that PAS was attempting to divert attention from its spending habits by announcing its support for Mahathir.

PAS-run Kelantan previously received a RM400 million one-off allocation from Putrajaya. The Islamist party also runs Terengganu.

“...they should be accessed on how they are helping these two states that are known as the poorest states.

“But they want to shift the people’s focus away from this and to their confidence vote for Mahathir. They appear to want to repay Mahathir (for the fund allocations) and this could be one way to thank him for the big present they were given,” he claimed.

'PAS' vote will only embarrass Mahathir'

Azan further opined that PAS’ confidence vote would only “embarrass” Mahathir, pointing to a 2016 incident where the party had sat out a no confidence vote against then Terengganu Menteri Besar Ahmad Razif Abdul Rahman despite earlier promising to join the move.

The PKR leader criticised the confidence vote as an “unnecessary” move, especially since Mahathir had repeatedly promised to handover the reins to Anwar.

No transition date has been announced but an apparent time frame appears to be after the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) 2020 summit this November.

Last week, PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man announced that the party plans to initiate a vote of confidence motion for Mahathir to serve a full term in the Dewan Rakyat.

The next Parliament sitting begins on March 9.

In response, Mahathir thanked PAS for its support but said he was unaware of their plans.

During the 14th general election campaign, Pakatan Harapan had promised voters that Mahathir will hand over the prime ministership to Anwar should they win the government. - Mkini