Dr M: Pakatan’s chances 50-50

PETALING JAYA: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (pic) says he at first advised Pakatan Harapan against its pledge to abolish highway tolls.

In an interview with Singapore’s Sunday Times, he admitted that “sometimes, I felt that we may not be able to fulfil our promise”.

“Our party, our coalition partners, you know they are very socialistic, they like to give things to people. I told them it cannot be done. You want to remove all the toll roads, they want to give free.

“I say, look, we have to maintain the roads. You have to build more roads. Where do you get the money if you’re trying to maintain this road by yourself? But they want popularity, so they prefer to promise this thing,” the Pakatan chairman was quoted as saying.

The Pakatan general election manifesto unveiled on March 8 promises, among other things, to abolish GST and toll collection.

To a question if he felt weird being in the Opposition, the former prime minister said: “Yes, it’s very weird.

“The very people who used to call me names – and I used to call them names – now they are working with me,” he said, adding that they chose him to be their leader.

“It is a strange kind of acceptance, you see, but I got to get on well with them,” said Dr Mahathir, adding that PKR leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and his family took a long time before agreeing to work with him.

“It was very difficult for him first to accept me as chairman of the Opposition, and then when my name was also put up for prime minister.

“It took a long time for him to decide, but eventually he realised, and people told him, there’s no way you can put anybody else and win over Malay support.

“Whatever differences we have is in the past. We have to learn to forget it, although off and on it crops up. But generally he (Anwar) has accepted.”

Dr Mahathir, 93, said his biggest challenge was to explain to his Umno base why he joined forces with the Opposition parties.

“They couldn’t understand. For example, I used to condemn DAP and now I am together with DAP. I explain, but die-hard Umno followers just cannot accept DAP,” he said. Dr Mahathir rated Pakatan’s chances of victory in the polls as “50-50”.

He said if Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak was not defeated, he would become “unbeatable”.

“If he wins, he will be very strong. So, this is our last opportunity to unseat him. If we lose this, there is no future,” he was quoted as saying.

On which constituency he would be contesting, Dr Mahathir said he had not made up his mind.

“I cannot afford to lose. I will have to choose the best constituency where I could win,” he said, adding that while he saw Johor as the main battleground for the Opposition, it would be difficult for them to break into the state.

Dr Mahathir also said if the Opposition failed in the polls, it would have to accept defeat. “But I’ll be very sad indeed.”