Kawan Tetap Kawan Anwar Meets Guan Eng Amid Pm Candidate Impasse

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DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng met with Anwar Ibrahim at the latter's office in Petaling Jaya amid the stalemate on who should be named as Pakatan Harapan Plus' prime minister candidate
Posting a photograph of the meeting on his Instagram page this evening, the PKR president's caption included the hashtag, “#kawantetapkawan (friends will be friends).”“Remaining together to strengthen the 'muafakat' (consensus),” he said
DAP's ties with Anwar showed signs of strain when the party backed the proposal for Dr Mahathir Mohamad, 95, to return as prime minister for the third time
According to the arrangement, Anwar would be appointed as deputy prime minister and succeed Mahathir in six months
DAP and Amanah argued this is because Mahathir, unlike Anwar, possessed the required support from lawmakers both in East and West Malaysia to wrest back Putrajaya, which Harapan lost to Perikatan Nasional (PN) through a political coup
However, PKR has been adamant that Anwar should be named as the prime minister candidate
The impasse witnessed another twist when Mahathir suggested that Warisan president Shafie Apdal become the prime minister while Anwar and the nonagenarian's son Mukhriz Mahathir serve as deputies
Earlier, Malaysiakini quoted a PKR source as claiming that his party rejected this proposal as well, insisting that it should be the first option of Anwar as prime minister and Mukhriz as number two
"We wanted option one (Anwar-Mukhriz) all along. We had rejected option two (Mahathir-Anwar)
"To us, there is no option three (Shafie-Anwar, Mukhriz). We did not and will not discuss the matter," he added
Whereas, another source revealed that Harapan would hold a presidential council meeting next week to discuss the Shafie (below) option
DAP had urged the presidential council to meet ahead of the next Parliament sitting, which is scheduled to commence on July 13
"We are trying to get a date for the presidential council meeting sometime next week," a source close to the Harapan secretariat told Malaysiakini
The upcoming Parliament session could witness fireworks with PAS submitting a motion of confidence for Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, which might prove to be a double-edged sword
This came amid speculation that the opposition would seek to table a no-confidence motion against the leader of the PN government, who has a razor-thin majority of three seats in the Lower House
On the other hand, Muhyiddin has submitted a motion to replace Dewan Rakyat Speaker Mohamad Ariff Mohd Yusof and his deputy Nga Kor Ming
National news agency Bernama had quoted GPS parliamentary chief whip Fadillah Yusof as stating that a candidate for the speaker post has been identified but declined to reveal a name
Speculation has been rife that Umno lawmaker Azalina Othman Said could be one of the frontrunners for the post. - Mkini

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