Mukhriz slams Anwar over his claims of Mahathir’s ‘failed reforms’

 

Mukhriz Mahathir said all Pakatan Harapan leaders, including Anwar Ibrahim, must bear the responsibility when they were in power instead of just blaming Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

KUALA LUMPUR: Pejuang president Mukhriz Mahathir has slammed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim over his statement that Dr Mahathir Mohamad had failed to carry out political reforms during Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) time in government, calling it completely unfair and baseless.

Mukhriz, who is MP for Jerlun, said all decisions during their time in government were made collectively.

“So we have to bear the responsibility together and cannot only blame Mahathir.

“Although he headed the Cabinet, all important decisions were made collectively with all ministers,” he said at a press conference.

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Anwar and Pejuang chairman Mahathir, who were former partners, had accused each other of failing to carry out political reforms.

Anwar had said on Thursday that PH could not proceed with reforms because the coalition was led by a “non-reformist” leader (a reference to Mahathir, who was then PH chairman).

Mahathir, in response, said that PH’s tenure in office was too short and that the coalition had come into power with only a simple majority, lacking the means to make constitutional amendments.

Mukhriz also said Mahathir had adopted a reformist stance during his two tenures as prime minister.

He said during Mahathir’s administration, many things that needed to be improved or changed were implemented by him.

“For example, Vision 2020 focused efforts on our goal of becoming a developed country.

“In fact, all government decisions, including at the ministerial level, were geared towards making that goal a success. This shows Mahathir was a reformist,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mukhriz, who is the pro-term deputy chairman of Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA), said he was open to discussions on a collaboration with Muda if the party failed to join PH.

Mukhriz said with GTA wanting to contest only 120 of the 222 seats up for grabs in the upcoming general election, he welcomed Muda to fill in the rest if it wanted to.

However, he said Muda would not be part of GTA but just as an ally of the coalition. - FMT