After Anwar's palace visit, Dr M says he's not supporting anyone to become PM

 

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has denied that he has thrown his support behind “one of the candidates” who wants to become prime minister.

“I heard that I have so-called supported one of the candidates who want to become prime minister.

“I have never given my support to anyone as the candidate for prime minister,” Mahathir said in a live-streamed message on social media today.

He and his new party, Pejuang, are independent and they are not affiliated with any party or individual who “aspires to get a certain position”, he said.

As such, he said, he hoped there will not be any more attempts that try to paint him as having supported anyone to become the prime minister.

Mahathir’s statement came after his former rival turned ally, PKR president Anwar Ibrahim, met with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong this morning claiming that he had enough support to form a new government.

At a press conference later, Anwar had said he had the support of more than 120 MPs though he declined to reveal any further details.

He also said the Agong would meet with other party leaders before making a decision.

The palace later released a statement saying that while Anwar had presented a the total number of MPs who supported him, he did not provide a list of their names.

The question of the transition of power from Mahathir to Anwar had become a contentious issue during the Pakatan Harapan administration.

Mahathir had promised to hand over the prime ministership to Anwar eventually, but no timeline was given until February this year when Mahathir said he would only step down after the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit which was supposed to be hosted by Malaysia in November.

Shortly after, the Pakatan Harapan government fell due to a political coup initiated by Anwar’s then-party deputy Mohamed Azmin Ali.

At the end of February and in what is now known as the Sheration Move, Bersatu, Azmin and several other PKR leaders defected from Pakatan Harapan and supported the formation of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government under Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

Pakatan Harapan and Mahathir’s faction, which had been kicked out of Bersatu, initially tried to present a united front and attempt to wrest back control of Putrajaya.

However, disagreements over their prime ministerial candidate hampered their efforts.

Eventually, Mahathir again formed a new party called Pejuang with his faction of former Bersatu leaders and declared that they would be an independent opposition force. - Mkini