Amanah, DAP reiterate: Dr M next PM, Anwar after him, ‘will have it in writing’

PETALING JAYA: The heads of Pakatan Harapan component parties DAP and Parti Amanah Nasional have reiterated their stand that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad should be the next prime minister, but only for six months before handing the reins to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

This would be put in writing, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and Amanah president Mohamad Sabu said in a joint statement on Monday (June 22).

They said that while they accept PKR has rejected the idea of Dr Mahathir being the next PM, they insisted this would offer a "realistic option of success" for all the parties in the “Pakatan Plus” pact, which includes Pakatan parties as well as Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia and Parti Warisan Sabah.

“This political journey has taken 22 years, we can afford to wait another six months to see Anwar installed as the 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia.

“The six-month transition (from Dr Mahathir) shall be documented in writing, signed by all party leaders and publicly announced.

"We wish to thank PKR for announcing that they have rejected the second option of nominating Dr Mahathir for prime minister and Anwar for deputy prime minister, with Dr Mahathir handing over power to Anwar after six months.

"This follows Warisan and Dr Mahathir rejecting the first option of Anwar as prime minister and Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir as deputy prime minister.

"Both options were proposed during the Pakatan presidential council meeting on May 30.

"We have been consistently supporting Anwar as the prime minister of Malaysia since 1998 and will continue to do so.

"Based on the current political scenario, the only realistic option of success is to combine the strength of all five parties of PKR, Amanah and DAP in Pakatan as well as Warisan and Dr Mahathir’s Bersatu.

"Even though Dr Mahathir, Warisan and PKR cannot agree with each other, all parties in Pakatan, Warisan and Dr Mahathir’s grouping must try to find a common ground to reclaim the electoral mandate granted by the rakyat in the 2018 general election.

"This is a sacred mission to uphold democracy and the value of the millions of Malaysians who voted for a change of government to get rid of a corrupt and kleptocratic administration involving tens of billions of US dollars, ” said Lim and Mohamad.

They also denied allegations that they were "power crazy" and they are "not afraid to be in the Opposition".

This comes in the midst of public disagreements by parties in the opposition as to who should be the next prime minister, with PKR rejecting Dr Mahathir outright as PM for the third time.

There have also been different versions from the party leaders themselves as to what was actually been agreed upon in the Pakatan presidential council meeting with Warisan and Dr Mahathir.