Dr Mahathir Says He And Pakatan Not On Same Page Over Leadership Issues

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(MMO) – Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today that he has opted to stay out of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition as it holds “different ideas” about leadership issues.
Speaking during a Facebook Live session with MyPerintis this morning, the former Parti Pribumi Malaysia Bersatu chairman said that he is now an independent MP even if he would like to stay with PH.
“On the one hand, I would like to stay with Pakatan Harapan but Pakatan Harapan has also changed.
“It has different ideas about who to lead and all that; therefore, I have to stay out of Pakatan Harapan, so I am now an independent (MP),” he told founding chairman of MyPerintis Datuk Lawrence Low during the online event today.
Also present in the interview were Chester Venture Berhad founder Datuk Howard Chew and wealth strategist/business mentor Datuk Seri Adrian Wee.
Dr Mahathir said he is not ready to leave Bersatu yet, even though the party “annulled” his membership in June — a decision that is now subject to a court application to reverse it.
“Strictly speaking, I belong to Bersatu, but not the faction that is with PAS and Umno,” he said.
On June 9, Dr Mahathir and five others took Prime Minister and Bersatu President Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and three others to court over what they claimed was their wrongful termination from the party earlier that month.
They claimed that Muhyiddin together with Home Minister and Bersatu secretary-general Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin and Registrar of Societies (ROS) director-general Masyati Abang Ibrahim had conspired to wrest power in Bersatu via dishonest means.
Muhyiddin then applied to strike out the suit and the matter will now be determined at the Kuala Lumpur High Court on August 7.
Meanwhile, also in June, PH and Dr Mahathir were in crisis as they could not decide who should be the prime minister candidate: Him or PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
DAP organising secretary Anthony Loke said both his party and Parti Amanah Negara backed Dr Mahathir as the candidate, with PKR the only party yet to agree to it.
However, the claims were denied by PKR secretary-general and PH chief secretary Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail who said Dr Mahathir’s Bersatu faction and Parti Warisan Sabah never officially nominated the elder statesman as its prime ministerial candidate.
Saifuddin instead said that in its seven meetings since May 30, the coalition has consistently nominated Anwar as its choice to lead discussions on the “restoration of the people’s mandate” with its allies.
Dr Mahathir then said Amanah and DAP had nominated Warisan’s Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal as the candidate.
 

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