By Adrian Lim
KUCHING, Feb 29: Interim prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad claims that he has the number of MPs to form the new government.
Following a meeting with the Pakatan Harapan (PH) leaders, Dr Mahathir in a statement said, “This morning, I had a meeting with the leaders of Pakatan Harapan.
“I am now confident that I have the numbers needed to garner majority support in the Dewan Rakyat.
“I am therefore prepared to stand as prospective candidate for Prime Minister.
“This decision will be conveyed to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong,” he said in a statement issued this morning.
He insisted that he did not sign any statutory declaration.
Dr Mahathir was responding to statements inferring that he had supported Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia’s (Bersatu) president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as the candidate for the eighth prime minister.
Dr Mahathir pointed out that he was against any form of cooperation with individuals who are known to be corrupt and was part of the kleptocratic administration which the PH government had worked hard to rid of.
He disclosed that the matter has been communicated to Bersatu’s MPs in a meeting yesterday.
Meanwhile, Dr Mahathir who is Langkawi MP and Syed Saadiq Syed Abdul Rahman who is Muar MP were seen in a photo posted by some Pakatan Harapan leader’s social media page.
Yesterday, Muhyiddin claimed that he has the support of 36 MPs from Bersatu together with former PKR leader Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali.
At the same time, United Malay National Organisation (Umno) and Parti Islam Se- Malaysia (Pas) have formulated the Muafakat Nasional which backed Muhyiddin as the prime minister.
Both of the political parties have 39 MPs and 18 MPs respectively.
Meanwhile, Muhyiddin and the party who supported him which include Gombak MP Datuk Seri Azmin Ali, PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, and Umno secretary-general Tan Sri Annuar Musa have an audience with the Yang-di-Pertuan Agong this morning.
Later on, Parti Amanah Negara’s (Amanah) president Mohamad Sabu, Democratic Action Party’s (DAP) secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and Amanah’s strategic director Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad were also believed to have entered Istana Negara to have an audience with the King.—DayakDaily
