‘I’ll be PM in less than two years’

Anwar however stresses that dr M must be allowed to govern effectively

NEW YORK: Malaysia’s would-be prime minister says he expects to take power from Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in less than two years but wants to give the current leader enough time to govern effectively before he assumes control.

“Of course, it’s not five years because he’s made it very clear they would not exceed two years,” Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, leader of the People’s Justice Party (PKR), said in an interview on Wednesday in New York on Bloomberg Television.

“But it’s important to allow him to govern effectively because we are in very difficult and trying times.”

Dr Mahathir pledged during last year’s election campaign to stand aside for Anwar once he was pardoned, which happened just a week after the then opposition’s shock victory in May.

Anwar concurred, saying he planned to travel and spend time with his family after more than three years of imprisonment.

The men have presented a united front to the public, giving Dr Mahathir a free hand at rooting out corruption and getting to the bottom of a sprawling scandal over state fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) before Anwar steps in.

That public stance belies decades of enmity between them. Dr Mahathir fired Anwar as his deputy in 1998 over a dispute on how to respond to the Asian financial crisis.

Anwar was later jailed for committing sodomy and abusing power, which he denied, then subsequently imprisoned for another sodomy conviction. He has said that the charges were politically motivated.

Anwar has shown signs of impatience. Despite saying he would spend a year away from politics, he returned to campaign for a parliamentary seat just five months after his release.

He was then allowed a seat in the top circle of the ruling Pakatan Harapan’s presidential council, while holding no Cabinet position.

He also became the chairman of a parliamentary caucus for reform and governance.