Anwar: Claim was to save Mahathir but ‘traitors’ just wanted excuse to quit

PKR president Anwar Ibrahim has confirmed the veracity of an audio recording of the Feb 21 Pakatan Harapan presidential council meeting, the last before Bersatu’s exit and the Sheraton Move political coup.

In a Facebook Live session today, he recalled how Harapan leaders had argued during the meeting over whether Dr Mahathir Mohamad ought to set a date to hand over the prime ministership to him.

Unlike Amanah and DAP leaders at the meeting, Anwar explained that he had chosen to not pressure for a transition date to prevent “traitors” from gaining an excuse to quit the coalition.

“I could read that these people were looking for an excuse, especially those from Bersatu and the traitors (from PKR), to say they do not agree and they want to leave,” he said today.

He also recalled how some who wanted to delay the transition had claimed to want to defend Mahathir during the meeting.

“But they are called traitors for a reason. No matter what we did to try and overcome the situation, they committed the betrayal anyway.

“Their plan was not to save Mahathir, their plan was to betray Harapan’s agreement so they could get positions. They claimed they wanted to defend Mahathir, but I never believed them as I have known them for decades,” he elaborated.

Following that night’s meeting, Mahathir had told a press conference that Harapan had decided to allow him to set a transition date which he thought best.

In the two-hour-long audio recording, leaked last week by a Bersatu-linked Facebook page, then PKR deputy president Azmin Ali and then PKR vice president Zuraida Kamaruddin were heard insisting Mahathir serve out a full term as prime minister.

Azmin and Zuraida would later defect from PKR and join Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin in setting up Perikatan Nasional comprising BN, PAS, GPS, Star and PBS. - Mkini