Najib: Opposition will tussle over PM post

PETALING JAYA: The opposition will only spend the first few years of their administration fighting on who will become the prime minister if they were to govern the country, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak.
Najib said Pakatan Harapan's nomination of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad for the post, only exhibited the frailty of its top leadership if the coalition were to govern the country.
"We can predict that if the opposition wins the election, they will be busy competing for the post of prime minister for two to three years before they can serve the rakyat," he said.
"However, if the mandate is given to Barisan Nasional, we can begin our services to the rakyat immediately after the election," he said in his latest blog post at najibrazak.com.
Pakatan Harapan had named Mahathir, who once led the nation for 22 years, as its prime minister candidate and PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as his deputy.
However, it was reported that certain groups within the coalition were unhappy with the decision, mainly due to the alleged oppressive track record of Mahathir during his administration.
Najib said Mahathir would only be regarded as the interim prime minister as the position would be handed to jailed PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim once he was released.
Najib predicted two scenarios would occur if the opposition won the election, where both would not be beneficial to the country.
"First, Tun Mahathir will not relinquish his position to Datuk Seri Anwar as it is generally known that Tun considers other leaders as incorrect," he said.
Najib said Mahathir had stated in 2016 that he would not allow those with moral problems to become the prime minister, a remark believed to be targeted towards Anwar who was jailed for sodomy.
"Tun had also said that Datuk Seri Anwar was too old to lead the nation. PKR will definitely protest if Tun decides to assume authority," Najib said.
The second scenario, according to Najib, was that Mahathir would do a "u-turn" and relinquish the prime minister post to Anwar.
"As a result, the position of prime minister and the deputy will be held by a husband and wife. This would be nepotism at its critical stage that is practiced by them," Najib added.
"Of course, the rakyat would rebel against such a leadership structure," he said.