As impasse on PM candidate remains, DAP and Amanah urge Anwar and PKR to accept six-month wait

(MMO) – DAP and Amanah urged allies in the so-called “Pakatan Plus” grouping to reach a compromise today, saying they were duty-bound to regain control of the government from the unelected Perikatan Nasional.

In a joint press statement today, Amanah president Mohamad Sabu and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng sought to reconcile PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s camp with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s supporters in his Bersatu splinter group and Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal’s Parti Warisan Sabah.

The alliance has been divided into two sides, with one supporting Dr Mahathir and PKR that was adamant on Anwar as the sole choice to be its prime minister.

“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 PH as well as Warisan and Tun’s Bersatu.

“This political journey has taken 22 years; we can afford to wait another six months to see Datuk Seri Anwar installed as the 10th prime minister of Malaysia. The six months transition shall be documented in writing, signed by all party leaders and publicly announced.

“Even though Tun Dr Mahathir, Warisan and PKR cannot agree with each other, all parties in PH, Warisan and Tun Dr Mahathir’s grouping must try to find a common ground to reclaim the electoral mandate granted by the rakyat in the 2018 general elections,” they said.

Both leaders stressed that this was a sacred mission to uphold democracy as well as correcting the alleged injustices and corruption of Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s defeated Barisan Nasional (BN) administration.

They also “thanked” PKR for its stance in rejecting the option of nominating Dr Mahathir as prime minister with Anwar as his deputy for a second time.

Previously, Dr Mahathir and his Warisan allies rejected the proposal for Anwar to become the prime minister candidate with Dr Mahathir’s son, Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir as deputy prime minister.

Mohamad and Lim added that both their two parties have worked hard over the past three months to find “common ground” between all five parties but without success.

“We hope that PKR and Tun together with Warisan will not drift further apart but instead continue to move closer together.

“Seeing each other as rivals instead of allies will not help the rakyat’s cause and only aid those who successfully deposed an elected government with an unelected one. Only when we are all on the same page together can we ensure that PH can reclaim the rakyat’s government,” they said.

The duo also stressed that there should not be any “transactional dealings” with former Pakatan Harapan (PH) leaders who betrayed the coalition and resulted in the backdoor takeover of Putrajaya.

Touching on the possibility of an early general election, the two Opposition party leaders said they were already preparing their respective election machinery for the campaign against PN.