Surprise! Mahathir says he wanted Anwar as PM

 

Dr Mahathir Mohamad says he had promised that Anwar Ibrahim would be prime minister after he quit but Muhyiddin Yassin brought down the government because he wanted the post for himself. (AFP pic)

PETALING JAYA: In a shocking “revelation”, Dr Mahathir Mohamad said he wanted to give the premiership to Anwar Ibrahim but the current prime minister stepped in to deny Anwar the seat.

The former prime minister claimed Muhyiddin Yassin brought down the Pakatan Harapan government so he could become prime minister.

Dr Mahathir said Muhyiddin knew he would have no chance of becoming the prime minister if Anwar took on the top job.

“Muhyiddin knew he would never be prime minister because I had already promised that Anwar would take over when I stepped down.

“If Anwar had become prime minister, I don’t think he would appoint Muhyiddin as his deputy and Muhyiddin would not have a chance to lead the country, ” Dr Mahathir told reporters during an online press conference.

This, he said, was why Muhyiddin felt that by bringing down the Pakatan Harapan government, he could be the prime minister.

The Pejuang chairman said Muhyiddin also knew that Mahathir did not want to work with Umno but “he was prepared to work with them”.

Due to that, when Mahathir resigned in February last year, Muhyiddin “saw this as a chance” as people like former prime minister Najib Razak or anyone from Umno could not claim to be the prime minister.

Umno, he said, had been under the impression that it could make use of Muhyiddin as prime minister to escape court cases but Muhyiddin had said he would not interfere.

“Although he did not interfere in Najib’s case, (politicians like) Musa Aman and Tengku Adnan Mansor got away,” Mahathir said.

He added that they now wanted to “fix Lim Guan Eng but that depends on the law.”

Mahathir said he would not interfere in Lim’s court cases and it should be handled according to the law.

On the Black Flag movement

Mahathir was also asked to comment on secretariat solidariti rakyat (SSR) movement to pressure Muhyiddin to resign and to organise protest.

Mahathir said the rakyat are suffering and the people do not know where to seek help.

“The government is interested in being the government and the prime minister is interested in being the prime minister,” he said.

On Bandar Malaysia

Mahathir said it was not right to take money and later nullify the mammoth project.

“If you do this, others may not want to invest. You (government) make promises and then don’t keep the contract,” he added.

Recently, it was announced the Finance Ministry (MoF) and IWH-CREC Sdn Bhd (ICSB) mutually agreed to terminate the deal for the latter to buy a 60% stake in the Bandar Malaysia project in the former air force base in Sungai Besi for RM7.4bil.

On the role of Attorney General

Mahathir said the present government finds the current Attorney-General “quite useful”.

Due to that, suggestions asking that the AG attend Parliament to answer questions in the emergency ordinance was not really because he would be toeing the government line.

Due to that, Mahathir said, the terms and references of the attorney-general needed to be reviewed as he was not only the prosecutor but also the solicitor.

“There is something wrong with the terms of reference.” - FMT