More voice reservations about Dr M as PM candidate
Party members express reservations about Dr M’s nomination
NEGRI PKR members prefer Azmin Ali instead. The Selangor PKR information chief says he has been issued a gag order for saying millennials wanted a fresh leader.
NEGRI Sembilan PKR has expressed reservations about the nomination of former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as the next prime minister.
This came a day after Selangor PKR disapproved the selection of Dr Mahathir as a prime ministerial candidate if Pakatan Harapan came to power in the general election.
Negri Sembilan PKR chairman Aminuddin Harun said state party members favoured Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Azmin Ali to be the next prime minister.
He said this was based on Selangor’s record of good governance and performance under Azmin’s stewardship.
“He (Azmin) is qualified based on his good performance in administering Selangor.
“Many other PKR leaders are eligible to be nominated as a candidate for the prime minister’s post,” he said here yesterday.
In a statement released by Selangor PKR communications bureau on Monday, its chief Hizwan Ahmad reportedly said: “With the remaining space of democracy and freedom of speech, Selangor PKR would like to express our disappointment over the announcement of Pakatan’s prime minister candidate.”
He had said the leaders must be reminded that the country was in a new era, and millennials wished to see a new leader who was knowledgeable and farsighted to steer the nation.
Aminuddin said Negri PKR accepted the decision by Pakatan in nominating Dr Mahathir as the next prime minister.
“Pakatan is a pact. So, the nomination is a joint decision and we accept it.”
He said PKR members in Negri Sembilan understood the move was needed by the Pakatan top leadership.
However, he hoped Dr Mahathir would fulfil his promise to hand over the post to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim when the time came.
“We understand the current situation, which doesn’t allow Anwar to be nominated as prime minister, so we agree with the decision.
“We believe Dr Mahathir will keep his promise to resign from the post and hand it over to Anwar.”
In Shah Alam , Hizwan has been issued a gag order for rejecting Dr Mahathir as Pakatan’s prime ministerial candidate.
Hizwan, however, made it clear that a PKR leader should have been tapped as the prime minister-elect in the event the opposition pact won the election.
“Sorry, I am under a gag order. Just refer to my original statement. I have made myself clear and that is all I am allowed to say.
“We want anyone from our party (to be nominated for the top two posts),” he told the New Straits Times yesterday.
Hizwan said Selangor PKR would put the issue on the backburner until after the polls.
“Let us win the election first. We will look at the outcome of the polls and plan for the future later.”
Hizwan, however, said he supported Pakatan Harapan’s move in naming PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as its deputy prime minister candidate.
In a statement on Monday, Hizwan voiced his objections to Dr Mahathir’s nomination, saying fresh faces should be fielded instead.