KUALA LUMPUR: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad will ensure that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will not get a pardon from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong so that he can stay on as prime minister, should Pakatan Harapan win the 14th general election (GE14).
Umno supreme council member Datuk Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi said today it was his opinion that Dr Mahathir, who is Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) chairman, would advise the King that the PKR de facto leader cannot be pardoned as sodomy was a serious crime.
“Dr Mahathir will ensure that more than half of the members of parliament would support him in staying on as prime minister if there is any motion for a vote of no confidence against him in Parliament. He can also abuse the National Security Council Act 2016 to declare an emergency if he feels that his position is threatened.
“Dr Mahathir has experience in such matters. He had abused the Internal Security Act during Op Lalang in 1987 when (he felt) his position was being threatened,” he said in a statement.
On Sunday, the Pakatan Harapan convention had announced that Dr Mahathir was the opposition pact’s choice for prime minister should it triumph in GE14, with PKR president and Anwar’s wife, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan ismail as deputy prime minister.
Puad said Dr Mahathir, who is 93, had been a dictator for 22 years and was now being “recycled” as prime minister by his worst enemies.
He said, once it was ensured that Anwar would remain in prison, Dr Mahathir would find a way to have his son, Datuk Seri Mukhriz, become the next prime minister as he does not intend to lead the nation until he is aged 100.
“This means, by Dr Mahathir’s thinking, he would step down as prime minister only after Mukhriz becomes his deputy, within seven years from today.”
Puad claimed that, when the opposition pact met to decide who would be its candidate for prime minister on Sunday, there was some “tension” between Dr Wan Azizah and Dr Mahathir.
“At first, Dr Wan Azizah was insistent that Anwar should be named as the candidate for prime minister. In the end, however, she admistted defeat and agreed to name Dr Mahathir, with Anwar as the eighth prime minister of Malaysia, whilst waiting for the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to pardon her husband,” he said.