‘Anwar wanted to be deputy when he nominated me’

Tun Dr Mahathir Mo­­hamad. - filepic

PETALING JAYA: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad says he could not make Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim his deputy despite the PKR president having offered to nominate him as the eighth prime minister.

“Anwar is perceived by the Malays as being liberal. He talked about multiracialism when he left Umno and he created a (multiracial) party to go against me.

“When Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah left Umno (in 1988) and started a new party (Semangat 46), it was a Malay-based party.

“Anwar left (Umno) and created a party for all (races) – liberal. Then, he got the support of DAP and PAS – his philosophy was liberalism.

“The Malays cannot accept this as they fear their position will be threatened. They have political power, no economic power. If the Malay strength is not stressed on, the liberal concept (in politics) will be rejected, ” said the former prime minister.

He was asked to explain the statements he made on March 1, saying that Anwar was not fit to be the prime minister. Dr Mahathir said this during an exclusive interview with Sinar Harian at Yayasan Perdana on Tuesday, the first interview with the media since he resigned as the premier on Feb 24.

He was also asked how Anwar, his rival, decided to back him as the eighth PM. “When they (Amanah and DAP) thought that I was not going to win (the majority of MP votes to be the prime minister), they assumed that Anwar had the most votes. Then, they realised those who supported Anwar would not be able to win. They returned to back me. “Anwar wanted to be deputy but I did not agree because I knew the support for him was not as it turned out to be. There were two people whom they do not like – Anwar and Lim Guan Eng, ” said Dr Mahathir.

The interview was partly released yesterday and will be released in full today at https://www.sinarharian.com.my/