By Peter Sibon
KUCHING, April 3: Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will eventually succeed Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as prime minister as it is an agreement made by Pakatan Harapan (PH) before the last general election, said political analyst Associate Professor Dr Awang Azman Awang Pawi.
He stressed that Dr Mahathir was named as the interim Prime Minister if PH were to take over Putrajaya.
“Based on that agreement among the four PH component parties, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will be the next Prime Minister of Malaysia,” Azman told DayakDaily today.
However, he cautioned that Dr Mahathir might not want to pass the baton to Anwar as they had a long ambivalent (‘benci tapi rindu’) relationship.
“So, that’s why there are ongoing public perceptions that Dr Mahathir might not want to pass the reins of government to Datuk Seri Anwar. This is because there was no written agreement on the matter. So, Dr Mahathir may just choose to ignore and continue to rule the country.”
Should that happen, then the entire PH federal government could crumble, he warned.
“And the opposition (Barisan Nasional) will seize the current public perception to create tension among PH component parties by playing up the issue.”
Awang Azman stressed that in politics, anything could happen, and there was no guarantee that promises would be kept and fulfilled.
“Politics is very dynamic and major changes can happen within 24 hours. So, it’s very difficult to predict what will happen in the next year or so.”
Awang Azman was commenting on acting Umno president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan’s latest comment, where he questioned the likelihood of Dr Mahathir handing over the reins to Anwar in two years’ time as promised, saying the PKR president would likely remain “the longest prime minister-in-waiting”.
“I know our ‘atok’ (referring to 93-year-old Dr Mahathir) very well. He will not give Anwar the post. Our ‘atok’ is hard-hearted. Those who dream of (Anwar) becoming prime minister will be disappointed,” he said at a political gathering for the Rantau by-election.
Mohamad said the opposition should be ready for any development, including Parliament being dissolved early.
He added that Mahathir did not have a strong mandate as prime minister with PH, unlike his first tenure in the 1980s.
“He was chosen from a party that has only 13 seats. He, himself, said he had to ask for permission from DAP to become prime minister because DAP and PKR hold the majority of seats in Parliament.”
The Rantau by-election will pit Mohamad against PH candidate Dr Streram Sinnasamy from PKR as well as independent candidates Mohd Nor Yassin and Malar Rajaram. — DayakDaily
