Mahathir could dump Harapan and destroy its credibility, claims Ronnie Liu

DAP's Sungai Pelek assemblyperson Ronnie Liu has voiced his objections to the idea of Pakatan Harapan choosing former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad as its prime ministerial candidate, as has been mooted in negotiations within the coalition.

In a Facebook post early this morning, Liu said he was worried that Mahathir might use the position of Harapan prime ministerial candidate as a bargaining chip to negotiate with his former ally and current Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

"He may gang up with Muhyiddin and Azmin Ali again if the offers are good and dump Haparan," claimed Liu who has a history of criticising Mahathir and was even referred to his party's disciplinary committee last year after publishing a piece called “Mahathir: The Paper Tiger”.

Liu (photo) also questioned if Mahathir had the ability to get enough numbers among sitting MPs and said that if he failed to do so, Harapan would risk losing all its credibility as a political coalition.

He also wondered aloud if the Yang di-Pertuan Agong would be willing to see Mahathir even if he did have the numbers.

"Even if Mahathir becomes prime minister, he may create new problems or even scandals to make life difficult for Anwar and other Harapan leaders again.

"He may go back to his old ways again and Anwar as the deputy prime minister will find it difficult to stop him," Liu added.

Presently, Liu's party DAP is supporting Mahathir’s bid to be prime minister again for the so-called “Pakatan Hapan Plus” coalition after failing to convince Warisan to nominate an Anwar Ibrahim-Mukhriz Mahathir combination for the top two positions.

"Mahathir may not want to step down after six months as promised and may again refuse to pass the prime minister position to Anwar.

"He may resign and walk out of Harapan again. Or he may just dissolve Parliament," said Liu.

Liu also cautioned that even having an agreement of Mahathir and Anwar as prime minister and deputy prime minister candidates could trigger Muhyiddin to call for snap elections.

 - Mkini