KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim appears unperturbed over calls by Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali for Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to see out a full term as prime minister.
The PKR president said despite the statement of support by his deputy for Mahathir, the final decision on who would lead the administration would ultimately lie with the Pakatan Harapan (PH) presidential council.
“I have said before that in a parliamentary democratic system, the decision (on who should be the prime minister) is made by the ruling coalition. This means I will leave this decision up to the PH presidential council,” he told reporters when met in the Parliament lobby, here, today.
Anwar was asked to comment on Azmin’s statement on Tuesday that Mahathir should be allowed to complete his full term to respect the people’s wishes.
He also challenged anyone to publicly declare it if a date had indeed been set for Anwar to take over, insisting that PH’s decision on the premiership was based solely on the spirit of understanding.
Asked if it was proper for someone who holds an important position in the government like Azmin to issue such statements, Anwar merely said: “It’s okay, we understand his background”.
Asked whether the issue of transition was brought up in his recent “coffee session” with Azmin in Parliament, Anwar said it was not.
On DAP central executive committee member Ronnie Liu’s statement on Tuesday that PH would still be able to form a government even without Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM), Anwar said PPBM is an important player in the government.
“My view is that PH consists of PKR, DAP, Amanah and PPBM. Thus far, PPBM has been playing a positive role in the government and is an important component in the coalition,” he said.
