TOO TRUSTING, DRUNK BY POWER OR HAVE THEY ALL TASTED THE LUCRE OF DR M’S CRONIES? OF COURSE ANWAR PM & MUKHRIZ DPM BETTER COMBO THAN MAHATHIR PM & ANWAR DPM: JUST IMAGINE IF 95-YEAR-OLD DR M IS SUDDENLY INCAPACITATED, MALAYSIA WOULD PLUNGE INTO CHAOS AGAIN – THE BEST POWER STRUCTURE IS THE ONE CLEARLY LAID OUT FROM THE START – UNLESS DR M & CRONIES HAVE OTHER PLANS? ALREADY PM-DPM COMBO BEING TURNED INTO MALAY VS NON-MALAY ISSUE BY THOSE WITHIN PAKATAN-PLUS, HOW TO TRUST THESE GUYS!

DAP, Amanah and Warisan want Dr Mahathir Mohamad to be prime minister and Anwar Ibrahim his deputy if the opposition regains control of Putrajaya, sources told The Malaysian Insight.

“We feel this is the best pairing, whether we get to take back Putrajaya now or in the next general elections,” said a senior party leader.

The decision on the Dr Mahathir-Anwar team was made at Pakatan Harapan’s meeting on Tuesday when the former prime minister and PH chairman went to the PKR headquarters.

“We are facing a dangerous partnership of Muhyiddin Yassin and Najib Razak and we felt that only Dr Mahathir and Anwar have the stature to make a viable challenge,” said the source.

This was one of two options decided by PH during its earlier meeting on May 30 where Dr Mahathir was not present.

“One option was to have Anwar be the prime minister and Mukhriz Mahathir as his deputy, and the other option was to have Dr Mahathir and Anwar.

“But after our meeting on Tuesday, DAP, Amanah, Warisan and the other Bersatu leaders decided on the Dr Mahathir-Anwar formula,” said the party leader.

One reason, said the source, is Dr Mahathir’s popularity among the Malays.

“If there are fresh elections, we are going to face Umno, PAS and Bersatu who will ride on the Malay support and we need someone who can challenge this.”  

In a survey conducted by Merdeka Centre on Opinion Research last November, 58% of Malay voters picked Dr Mahathir to lead the country while only 13% preferred Anwar.

Anwar, however, fared better among non-Malays, as 58% Chinese and 62% Indians picked the PKR president over Dr Mahathir.

But PH’s plan has hit a snag as PKR is undecided, said another party leader.

The deal is on hold as PKR wants another week to mull on it, he said.

“PKR wants Anwar at the forefront instead of Dr Mahathir. As such, we will just have to wait and see what they decide before our next move.”

PKR’s dissatisfaction with the general consensus reached by Amanah, Warisan and DAP was shared by its deputy youth chief Ahmad Syukri Razak on Facebook on Wednesday.

“They want PKR to be magnanimous and accept Dr Mahathir as PM again. They said national interests should be above personal interest.

“But it will be a miracle if Anwar agrees to this,” said Syukri.

PH is made up of DAP which has 42 MPs, PKR (37) and Amanah (11). Warisan has 10 MPs together with Upko.

THE MALAYSIAN INSIGHT