No guarantee Dr M won’t switch sides to ‘traitors’, says PKR man

A PKR Youth leader has challenged the claim that Dr Mahathir Mohamad has more support among MPs than Anwar Ibrahim, as factions within Pakatan Harapan (PH) continue their face-off over the choice of prime minister in the coalition’s attempt to return to power.

(FMT) – Syed Badli Shah Syed Osman, PKR Youth’s vice-chief, was commenting on a familiar claim among PH partners who advocate Mahathir’s return to the top post that the former leader could galvanise support from MPs.

“Curiously, why do our allies only emphasise that Anwar must support Mahathir and not the other way around?

“If what they say is true, Tun Mahathir actually does not need PKR’s support nor PH’s to return to power,” Syed Badli said in a lengthy statement tracing PH’s fall from power.

There has been a stalemate within the leadership of PH, now comprising PKR, DAP and Amanah, as well as allies Warisan and five MPs sacked from PPBM, over who should be named as the coalition’s prime ministerial candidate.

Yesterday, Anwar admitted that there was mistrust of Mahathir among PH leaders, days after his party broke ranks with DAP and Amanah to reject the veteran politician as the coalition’s nominee again.

Syed Badli said there was no guarantee that Mahathir would not switch sides to “traitors” in his quest to return to power for the third time.

He said Mahathir himself was struggling to get support from MPs, adding that he was unsurprised by rumours of secret talks between Mahathir and “traitors”, a term PKR uses for its former deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali and those who supported him in the February coup that brought down the PH government.

“The question is, are our allies like DAP and Amanah willing to work together again with the traitors?” he asked, adding that PKR had good reason to reject Mahathir as prime minister again.