Anwar getting ready to fight for PM’s post, says analyst
PETALING JAYA: A political analyst has voiced a belief that PKR president Anwar Ibrahim is getting ready to fight for the prime minister’s post instead of waiting for Dr Mahathir Mohamad to hand it to him.
Azmi Hassan of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia said this was indicated in a Bloomberg interview yesterday in which Anwar said he expected to take over from Mahathir by 2020.
He also said the endorsement Anwar received on Tuesday from former federal minister Salleh Said Keruak and former Dewan Rakyat speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia was an indication of things to come.
“The battle lines will be made clearer after this as Anwar will need to know who his real supporters and enemies are,” he told FMT.
Under an agreement struck by Pakatan Harapan (PH) leaders, Mahathir is to hand over power to Anwar on an unspecified date. Mahathir has repeatedly said he will keep his promise once the country is “on an even keel”.
Azmi said the PKR president would need to show he had the backing of most MPs before going all out to claim his prize, and the expressions of support from Salleh and Pandikar were probably a means of getting the ball rolling.
Noting that Anwar dismissed the possibility of having any rival for the PM’s post during the Bloomberg interview, Azmi said this was to send out the message that he was undoubtedly Mahathir’s successor and to put on notice that his waiting period of two years was not negotiable.
The two-year period ends in May 2020.
Azmi predicted that pressure would be piled on Mahathir in the coming months.
“I don’t think Anwar’s camp will accept ambiguous answers now that he has mentioned a specific time frame,” he said.
In recent weeks, Mahathir has come under criticism from the opposition as well as quarters in PH over issues ranging from the sale of government assets to his defence of controversial preacher Dr Zakir Naik.
The latest developments, Azmi said, would also put immense pressure on PH and risk dividing the coalition into pro-Anwar and pro-Mahathir camps.
James Chin of the University of Tasmania’s Asia Institute said he believed Anwar was warning off challengers to the prime minister’s post.
He said the path to power would not be smooth for the PKR president because there were “many factors at play”, and he mentioned the cooperation between PAS and Umno as one of these.
“If Umno and PAS can get the rural Malays to back them, Anwar will face a problem as many in PH believe only Mahathir can beat Umno and PAS in Malay areas,” he said.
We need Anwar as PM as quickly as possible.
ReplyDeleteAnwar also thinks the ECRL project should be re-looked and possibly cancelled altogether, Jomo Sundaram agrees, considering the testimonies being revealed at Jibby's 1MDB trial. If the ECRL and other China-related projects like HSR, Bandar Malaysia, Gas Pipelines etc were indeed for the bail-out of 1MDB then this is a case of fraud and corruption. All the agreements with China are rendered invalid.
Jibby has caused us to lose not only the 1MDB 42B plus interest, but also 80B (?) plus interest for the unnecessary China-related projects, solely to plug the 1MDB losses. Total losses is in excess of 100B. Me, my children and grandchildren will be paying for this.
The least Jibby can do now is to admit the scam so we can go to court with the China-parties to recover all the money from them, but that won't happen of course.
Now if we keep regurgitating Toonsie's legacy from 30-40 years ago please don't forget to mention Jibby's legacy from just a few years ago for which we can still recover the losses. Toonsie's cases from decades ago are almost impossible to prove in court and the losses are no longer recoverable.
Anwar needs to take over from Toonsie ASAP. The revelations being made at the 1MDB court case are too big to ignore, and Toonsie is just not up to it.
ReplyDeleteAnwar should be PM and Jomo Sundaram made Senator and Economy Minister.
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Embassies in Beijing, Abu Dhabi not informed of 1MDB-linked trips, says Najib’s ex-aide
V Anbalagan - September 19, 2019
KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian embassies in Beijing and Abu Dhabi were unaware that the prime minister’s special envoy had come to discuss with the authorities in both countries about 1MDB-related matters, the High Court heard today.
Amhari Efendi Nazaruddin, who formerly worked as special officer to Najib Razak, said these were considered as secret missions.
“For the China trip, it was also a precursor to Najib’s official visit to the country in 2016,” he said when re-examined by ad-hoc prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram.
Amhari, the eighth prosecution witness, during examination-in-chief had said he went to Beijing to hold talks on the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL), the Trans-Sabah Gas Pipeline and the Multi-Product Pipeline (MPP) to “bail out” debt-riddled 1MDB.
Amhari Efendi Nazaruddin, who formerly worked as special officer to Najib Razak.
The witness said Malaysia had an embassy in Beijing and Wisma Putra was entrusted with Putrajaya’s foreign affairs.
Amhari said his trip to Abu Dhabi was also without the knowledge of embassy officials there.
He had gone to the United Arab Emirates capital in 2016 to stop the state’s sovereign fund from going to court after 1MDB defaulted on a bond payment guaranteed by IPIC in 2012 for the acquisition of two power plants.
The witness said discussions for the trips were held at Najib’s private home on Langgak Golf.
“Upon returning from my trips, I reported to Najib on the outcome,” he said.
Further questioned by Sri Ram, he said it was normal for civil servants to file claims upon their return from foreign assignments.
“But for the China (Beijing) and Abu Dhabi trips, Najib reimbursed me in cash that ran into few thousand ringgit as these were secret missions,” he added.
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