Reformasi vets give thumbs down to Dr M as Pakatan chairman

(Berita Daily) – Veteran reformists have expressed disappointment with Pakatan Harapan’s decision to appoint former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad as the coalition’s chairman.

Berita Daily managed to speak to three reformasi activists who were at the forefront during the 1998/1999 crisis involving Mahathir and his then deputy Anwar Ibrahim, who was sacked from the government and Umno and charged with sodomy.

Former PKR man Badrul Hisham Shaharin, better known as Chegu Bard, doubted that Mahathir would keep his promise of making Anwar the country’s eight prime minister should Pakatan win the next general election.

Chegu Bard, a staunch critic of Mahathir’s administration during the reformasi period, slammed the Pakatan Harapan presidential council for making the appointment.

“How can we trust Mahathir to install Anwar as the next prime minister? Who is the seventh prime minister? Surely he is Mahathir. How can we trust him after all he did to Anwar and the reformasi movement?”

He said Pakatan Harapan’s decision had totally gone against its principles and showed that the opposition coalition was just out to grab power without a care for policy and good governance.

“If today they can be friends with Mahathir, they can be Najib’s friend in the next 10 years. What are we trying to tell the people? The majority of those in the meeting last night were the ones who called Mahathir ‘Mahazalim’, ‘Mahafiraun’ and ‘Perompak’,” he said.

Chegu Bard said Mahathir’s appointment had ended the spirit of reformasi and the sacrifice that was made by thousands of Malaysians who wanted a transparent government.

“The reformasi is dead. There is no more reformasi after Mahathir was picked up as the coalition’s chairman,” he said.

Pakatan is desperate

Former ISA detainee Lokman Adam opined that the appointment of nonagenarian Mahathir was proof that the coalition was desperate for a leader.

Lokman, a reformasi activist turned Umno member, added that the Pakatan Harapan leadership line-up was only for ‘show’ as Mahathir and Anwar are still not trusting each other.

“For clearly it shows that they are desperate. There is no country in the world that can name the eighth prime minister (candidate) without naming the seventh prime minister. Only Pakatan Harapan can do that.”

Lokman said he knew for a fact that Anwar can never forgive Mahathir for what Mahathir did to him and that Mahathir knows this.

“That is why Mahathir said Anwar can never be the next PM but suddenly he changed his mind. Both of them are just acting to agree with each other,” said the strategic communication director at the Finance Ministry.

Last night, Pakatan Harapan finally announced its presidential council line-up and named Mahathir — the head of the pact’s smallest and youngest party, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) — its chairman.

One rung lower is federal Opposition Leader Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who is the pact’s president while the jailed Anwar was symbolically made de facto leader, mirroring his position in PKR.

The announcement is similar to the line-up proposed by PPBM, as was reported on June 9, with nominal changes and additions.
Mahathir unsuitable

Another former ISA detainee and reformasi activist Chong Ton Sin said that as a newcomer in the opposition bloc, Mahathir should not have been named as the chairman.

Chong, popularly known as Pak Chong, said the post could have been handed over to Mohamad Sabu or Wan Azizah, who have been fighting Umno for a much longer time.

“My personal opinion is that I disagree. Pakatan should not be led by someone like Mahathir. The post should have been given to someone else. Furthermore, he is very new in the coalition and is very new in going against the government.

“I think he should have become the deputy president or the vice,” he said.

PPBM president Muhyiddin Yassin is one of three deputy presidents along with DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and Amanah president Mohamad Sabu.

Pakatan Harapan has four vice-presidents in PKR’s Mohamad Azmin Ali, PPBM’s Mukhriz Mahathir, DAP’s Chong Chieng Jen and Amanah’s Sallahuddin Ayub.

PKR’s Saifuddin Abdullah was named chief secretary and DAP’s M Kulasegaran is the pact’s treasurer.