PUTRAJAYA: PKR parliamentary chief whip Datuk Johari Abdul has hinted that tonight will be a key moment for Pakatan Harapan to decide for its future.
Although he refused to comment further on the gist of tonight’s PH presidential council meeting, Johari said it would be a “big night” for the ruling coalition.
“Yes, tonight is the night. The sky doesn’t look very good tonight but there’s always a silver lining behind every cloud.
“The temperature will go down, don’t worry,” he told reporters at the Foreign Ministry’s entrance here today after attending the national-level PH secretariat meeting with state leadership.
Johari said this concerning rumours circulating that the council meeting tonight would be tense as Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is expected to set a date for his resignation as prime minister.
PH had said a decision was made before the 14th general election that PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim would take over the premiership from Dr Mahathir after a "certain period".
However, there is no date fixed for the succession plan at the moment and Anwar’s supporters have been pressuring Dr Mahathir to do so.
This is despite Dr Mahathir’s affirmation he would pass over the baton to Anwar after the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) meeting in November.
Commenting on the statutory declaration (SD) of support for Dr Mahathir as the seventh prime minister and Anwar as the eighth, Johari said it was done to celebrate “friends who want peace”.
“Whatever it is, we want to see a better Malaysia. Everybody is dreaming of that and we want to move towards that.
“I know our leaders are seasoned players and we have gone through so many hurdles and we managed to get this done (winning GE14).
“Of course, now we are talking about the leadership issue and whatnot and I think that’s not a problem.
“We have gone through many phases and I think this is not a big challenge because we are matured enough to handle it.
“If we can bring Barisan Nasional down in a calm situation, then I think whatever happens tonight will also turn out to be a calm situation,” he said.
Meanwhile, Parti Amanah Negara secretary-general Datuk Dr Mohd Hatta Ramli who chaired this afternoon’s meeting said several issues on PH leadership in the states have been ironed out.
“The secretariat has agreed that we should hold meetings at least four times a year so that we get to listen to the state leaders on issues they are facing and to resolve them internally.
“This is only our second meeting since we won GE14.”