KUCHING: PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has alleged of a conspiracy within Pakatan Harapan to prevent him from succeeding Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as prime minister, according to the Financial Times (FT).
In an interview with FT, the Port Dickson MP said the conspiracy came from a minor movement from his own coalition.
“There are pockets, people who for their own reasons would like to sabotage these arrangements.
“I can’t deny, some people in the ruling coalition [have] a different agenda,” the former deputy prime minister told FT.
PH secretary-general Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah disclosed this week that there was no formal agreement for Dr Mahathir to yield the position to Anwar within two years as previously believed.
However, Anwar reiterated that he had faith in Dr Mahathir’s sincerity in fulfilling the agreement.
“He has done it once [denied succession]; will he do it again? But I think circumstances have also changed,” Anwar was quoted saying in the FT interview.
Anwar did not identify those he believed to be part of the alleged conspiracy.
Within his own PKR, he has clashed with deputy president Datuk Seri Azmin Ali.
In the FT report, Peter Mumford, the Asia director at Eurasia Group, asserted that Azmin also has ambitions for the prime minister’s post.
Lily Rahim, an associate professor of south-east Asian government and international relations at the University of Sydney, predicted that Dr Mahathir would still be influential regardless of who succeeds him.
Later yesterday, however, Bernama reported Anwar denying the conspiracy report.
It quoted Anwar as saying: “I never said that. No fake news will be entertained.
“What I said was that you can’t deny some elements we may not agree. That is the democratic process,” he said after attending Pakatan Harapan Presidential Council meeting chaired by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Anwar told Bernama what was important was that Dr Mahathir and he had agreed on the matter that he would be the eighth prime minister.
