Dr Mahathir can only accept his son Mukhriz as the new PM

By MT Webmaster Last updated Mar 12, 2016

But Dr Mahathir hopes his son can still make it. While he says he wants Najib ousted, he refuses to say who he wants as the new Prime Minster once Najib is ousted. He only says he does not want Najib as the Prime Minister any longer and does not agree to Anwar taking over. Maybe Dr Mahathir should declare that he wants Mukhriz to replace Najib so that we can all know the real endgame and can tailor the game plan accordingly.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Mukhriz says wants to be Umno VP before party’s possible defeat at next GE

(The Malaysian Insider, 7 October 2013) Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir wants to win the Umno vice-presidency at the October 19 polls before the party loses power after the 14th general election due in five years. The Kedah Menteri Besar, among five others vying for the three vice-president posts in Umno, feels the Malay party is running out of time, based on the results of the last two general elections.

“If my decision to contest is too late, who knows, at the coming general election we might lose power. Umno is running out of time. We saw what happened in the 12th and 13th general elections, so what will the results of the 14th general election be?”

“If we are still not anxious and want to wait for the next 10 or 15 years, we will face the repercussions,” he told The Malaysian Insider on the sideline of a meet-the-candidates session at the Putra World Trade Centre (PTWC) in Kuala Lumpur recently.

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Mukhriz lost but feels ‘blessed’

(Bernama, 20 October 2013) – Despite losing his bid to be one of Umno vice presidents, Mukhriz Mahathir has pledged to continue contributing towards the transformation of the party. Mukhriz, who is Kedah Menteri Besar, said he could still contribute in his capacity as the state Umno liaison committee chairman.

“I don’t think that with the results I’m suddenly totally out of the picture. It’s my hope that party president (Najib Tun Razak) will still consider giving me a place in the Umno supreme council so that I too can contribute towards ensuring we can do better in the 14th general election,” he told reporters at the Putra World Trade Centre here last night.

Mukhriz failed to clinch the third vice-presidency slot in a keenly fought battle against Hishammuddin Tun Hussein, garnering 91 votes against the latter’s 100 when the official results were announced at about 1.40 am today.

The outcome saw incumbents Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Mohd Shafie Apdal and Hishammuddin retain their vice-presidency for the 2013-2016 term.

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Whoever thought we would see the day when DAP would emerge as the new Kingmaker for Umno. DAP is going to determine who becomes Umno’s President and in the same process the Prime Minister of Malaysia. And that was basically what happened on the afternoon of Friday, 4th March 2016 when the 58 ANC (Anti-Najib Campaign) activists met to officially launch the second phase of the effort to oust Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak after the epic failure of the first phase that dragged on for a year but ended up nowhere.

Anyway, different people expected different things to come out of Friday’s launch of phase two of the campaign to oust Najib. While all may have been united about one thing — that Najib has to be ousted before the next general election expected in 2018 — that was the only thing they could agree on. As to what happens thereafter is left ‘open’.

I suppose they will have to proceed from thereon on an ‘agree to disagree’ basis because they disagree on almost everything other than that Najib should be ousted.

For example, Ambiga wants Anwar Ibrahim to take over as Prime Minister if and when they oust Najib. How that is going to happen was not explained and whether all the others share that same aspiration was also not clarified.

Anwar will be out of jail in 2020. But then he cannot contest any election until after 2025. The next general election will be in 2018 and the one following that would most likely be in 2023. So Anwar cannot contest that general election but will have to wait till 2028. By then Anwar will be past 80.

Does Malaysia really want an 81-year old Prime Minister? By then Malaysia’s population would be 36 million. Are you saying that out of 36 million Malaysians — more than 95% who will be below 80 years old — there is not a single person who can run the country? In fact, more than 88% of Malaysians are going to be below 50 so surely we can find someone below 50 to be the Prime Minister.

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, however, does not want Anwar as the new Prime Minister if and when Najib is ousted. First of all, Anwar would have to be given a pardon and released from jail if we do not want to wait until 2028 when Anwar is past 80 before he can take over as Prime Minister. What will happen in the meantime during those 12 years while we wait for Anwar? is Malaysia going to have an Acting Prime Minister for the next 12 years?

If we want Anwar to take over now, as soon as Najib is ousted, then not only must he be given a pardon but someone would have to vacate his or her parliament seat so that a by-election can be held. Anwar would then have to contest this seat and win it. That may take two or three months (or longer). So in the meantime during those few months the country would have no Prime Minister.

Then we have the problem of Anwar being the leader of the party that holds the minority seats in parliament. So Anwar would have to buy over at least 30 or so Barisan Nasional Members of Parliament and get them to cross over. That could cost around RM1 billion depending on how much these Barisan Nasional Members of Parliament want. But since this exercise is to make Anwar the Prime Minister then the asking price is not going to be cheap. So Anwar would have to get ready RM1 billion in case.

The man who Dr Mahathir wants as the new Prime Minister is his son Mukhriz. And Dr Mahathir has to make sure this happens while he is still around. Once he is gone then Mukhriz’s chances becomes even slimmer.

Dr Mahathir was hoping that Mukhriz would win the party contest and become one of the three Umno Vice Presidents — and he had hoped that Najib would help make this happen. He wanted Najib to make sure that Mukhriz wins. Najib, however, did not help Mukhriz win and this upset Dr Mahathir big time.

It was after that when Dr Mahathir decided to punish Najib for not helping his son. At least as one of the three Umno Vice Presidents Mukhriz’s chances of becoming the Deputy Prime Minister and eventually the Prime Minister would be better.

So the ANC wants Mukhriz as Prime Minister. The Pakatuns, however, want Anwar. But before any of the two can be the Prime Minister they first need to be a Member of Parliament. As a non-Member of Parliament they would not qualify. How is that going to happen?

Anyway, we can understand Dr Mahathir’s frustration and can appreciate why he is so angry with Najib. Because Najib refused to help Mukhriz that has shattered Dr Mahathir’s dream for his son to become the new Prime Minister.

Raja Petra Kamarudin RPK