Pakatan names Azmin as PM candidate
A poster of a Pakatan Harapan Cabinet featuring Datuk Seri Azmin Ali as the Prime Minister and Datuk Seri Muhkriz Mahathir as Deputy Prime Minister has gone viral.
PETALING JAYA: A poster of a Pakatan Harapan Cabinet featuring Datuk Seri Azmin Ali as the Prime Minister has gone viral.
The line-up with the tagline “Muda, Dinamik, Wibawa” (young, dynamic, integrity) began circulating shortly before Pakatan's presidential council meeting on Thursday (Jan 4) afternoon.
It was clearly a countercampaign against Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's bid to be named the coalition's prime minister candidate.
It also seemed like the handiwork of PKR supporters given that PKR leaders dominated 12 of the 27 posts that placed Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia deputy president Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir as the Deputy Prime Minister.
The proposed Cabinet line-up in this viral image has Datuk Seri Azmin Ali as the prime minister.
At around the same time that day, a statement by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was released, urging the coalition to “heed the voice of the people”.
It was quite a cryptic statement and although he did not mention anything about the tussle over the prime minister post, there were two giveaway points – he advised Pakatan to respect the spirit of consensus as well as to consult non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and activists on key issues.
He was basically telling the coalition that any decision made on the prime minister candidate has to be by consensus – that is, all four parties must agree rather than put the matter to a vote.
Those in the know say that his advice about consulting NGOs was aimed directly at Dr Mahathir because two leading women NGO leaders had met the Pakatan chairman and former premier last week to share their views.
They had also told the 92-yearold leader that they will boycott Pakatan in the general election if he is the prime minister candidate.
The sentiments are not favourable to Dr Mahathir and the wish-washy press conference that took place at the conclusion of Thursday's meeting spoke volumes.
It was obvious that the coalition could not reach a consensus on the choice of prime minister.