LANGKAWI: PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim wanted to be the deputy prime minister when the Pakatan Harapan coalition decided to support Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as the nation’s eighth Prime Minister during the recent political upheaval.
After Pakatan had rescinded on the earlier proposition of nominating Anwar for the post of prime minister, the coalition of PKR, DAP and Parti Amanah Negara, and some segments of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), went back to Mahathir to seek his approval to nominate the 94-year-old instead.
It was during this encounter that Anwar had proposed his name as the deputy prime minister but Mahathir felt the timing was inappropriate.
Mahathir, who revealed this, said Anwar was quite adamant in wanting the post but he decided to reject the request, preferring for his wife Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail to continue as the deputy prime minister.
The reason was there was feedback from various quarters of their unhappiness with Anwar as a leader, Mahathir said when briefing the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) Langkawi division at the Langkawi Lagoon Resort here.
Mahathir revealed that two prominent civil society leaders had met him to complain about Anwar’s apparent lack of administrative leadership skills.
“Anwar is more in tune with politicking rather than as an administrator,“ he said.
On Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who is now the eighth prime minister, Mahathir said he would have his hands full as he was dealing with hardline parties who have a reputation of being unyielding.
“Muhyiddin is riding a tiger. If he gets off it, he would probably be eaten, so he has to continue riding it no matter how uncomfortable it is,“ he said.
On the proposal by the Registrar of Societies (RoS) to ban Umno for irregularities in its administration, Mahathir replied that there was a discussion to that effect but Muhyiddin protested against the ban.
Mahathir said to his mind, the political crisis was triggered on two thresholds - Muhyiddin’s impatience in wanting to become a prime minister after sensing that Umno had given him the opportunity and Pakatan’s indecisive stance to his proposal for a national unity government to head off apparent attempts to cause the downfall of the Pakatan coalition government.
