Pakatan reps reject report claiming Dr M secured nod to be PM

(MMO) – A news report alleging that Pakatan Harapan (PH) chose Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as its candidate for prime minister was false, insisted Amanah communications director Khalid Samad.

The Shah Alam MP also told the New Straits Times (NST)  that the pact had not discussed possible choices to be PM during a retreat last week, as alleged by news portal The Malaysian Insight.

“I would like to ask the portal to name its source, because only then we can find out if it was genuine or just a propaganda.

“If they refuse to reveal (the source), we will take it as a provocation towards us,” he was quoted as saying.

Citing an unnamed source, the portal reported on Sunday that Dr Mahathir would return to the post if PH wins the general election.

The report also claimed that Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail would be the deputy prime minister in the same scenario.

In the NST report published today, PKR vice-president Dr Shaharuddin Badaruddin similarly said he did not know where the news portal obtained the information.

Dr Mahathir was prime minister from 1981 to 2003, and is the longest holder of the position by nearly a decade.

He had been the chief antagonist to Malaysia’s Opposition parties up until his recent resignation from Umno, but has since become the chairman and, in his own estimation, the “top dog” of PH.