Anwar: Pakatan must refer to partners first on PM choice

Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

PETALING JAYA: Pakatan Harapan has already decided on its choice for prime minister, but needs to refer to its partners Parti Warisan Sabah and former Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia MPs before publicly announcing it, says Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

“Pakatan, through its secretary-general Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution, already issued a statement saying that no final decision has been made.

“Pakatan, as a body, has already made a decision. But we have to refer to our other partners, including Warisan and former Bersatu MPs led by Dr Mahathir (Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad), ” he said in a Facebook live video yesterday.

Anwar, who apologised for the delays in the announcement, said the agenda of ensuring economic reforms and good governance would always be prioritised by Pakatan as it was a central theme to the coalition’s struggles.

“For us, change has to be speeded up, but we shouldn’t sacrifice our principles in the process.

“Change should be about the people’s concerns. It should also be about boosting investors’ confidence and generating economic growth.

“This is a key issue in Pakatan and so we apologise for delaying this announcement, ” he said.

Pakatan was expected to announce its choice for prime minister on Tuesday following a meeting last week.

However, a statement issued by Saifuddin late Tuesday said that Pakatan respected the views given by various parties and it would issue an official statement once a final decision was reached.

PKR MP Datuk Seri Abdullah Sani Abdul Hamid had said that a meeting featuring top PKR leaders on Monday had unanimously decided against the proposal to nominate Dr Mahathir as Pakatan’s prime minister and Anwar as his deputy.

Sources also said that some of those within PKR were against the idea of naming Dr Mahathir as Pakatan’s prime minister candidate, but were prepared to accept it if there was an agreement in paving the way for Anwar to take over the reins.

Anwar had previously said that Pakatan Plus had the support of 107 MPs.

Those aligned with Dr Mahathir included Warisan’s nine MPs and four former Bersatu MPs.