A sad day for Pakatan: Abdul Rahman on Tun Mahathir as PH prime ministerial candidate

KUALA LUMPUR: Pakatan Harapan's (PH) "supposed" proposal to have Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as their candidate for Prime Minister shows the sad state that the opposition is in today, said Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan.
The Barisan Nasional (BN) strategic communications director added that if the speculation were true, it would be a flip-flop of their previous stand to empower the youth.
"It's not only a sad day for Malaysia but also a sad day for Pakatan as well. They have been championing about empowering youths to become leaders. So it's a total u-turn. It's sad and actually surprising, and I think it won't go down well with the people," he told reporters on the sidelines of the Umno annual general meeting, here today.
Abdul Rahman, who is also an Umno Supreme Council member, said it was also saddening that the opposition was unable to find younger candidates to lead the country, despite being part of the political scene for some time now.
"It's a sad day for Pakatan because obviously they have been in the political arena for so long but they couldn't find a more younger, fresh blood," he said.
Several media reports quoted sources as saying that most of the opposition had agreed to name former premier Tun Mahathir as the interim prime minister, if the coalition wins the next general election, during a PH retreat on Dec 1 and 2.
Sources also claimed that PKR president Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail had been proposed as the deputy prime minister.
Umno Wanita chief Tan Sri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil similarly pitied PH, claiming that, if reports were to be believed, the suggestion to have Tun Mahathir as the prime ministerial candidate spoke for itself.
"Oh my god. I really feel sorry for them. The suggestion speaks for itself," she said.
Shahrizat pointed out that while BN always paid extra attention in empowering the rakyat, the opposition has failed to come up with a proper plan to develop the nation.
"The national development has always been the Prime Minister's priority. But what are the opposition's plans? They only have plans for themselves, and that's the difference," she said.