Many believed I prevented Anwar from becoming PM - Tun M

KUALA LUMPUR: Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today responded to allegations that he was the reason why Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim could not become prime minister.

The explanation was made in a latest post uploaded on his blog chedet.cc.

In the post, Dr Mahathir explained in detail what happened from February 21 until the change of government, the appointment of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as the new prime minister and Anwar announcing that he had the support of the majority.

According to him, many believed he was an obstacle to Anwar's desire to become prime minister.

But the fact is, he said, even though he was rejected from Pakatan Harapan (PH) by Anwar, the PKR president still failed to become prime minister.

"Many believe that the reason Anwar could not be prime minister is because I prevented him.

"It is true that I used to think that for some reason he was disqualified to be the Prime Minister of Malaysia.

"But when (Datuk Seri) Najib (Razak) became a kleptocrat, I was willing to work with Anwar to bring down Najib.

"I did not oppose PH's suggestion that Anwar will replace me when I resign.

"But it is not yet time for Anwar's friends to demand that I resign," he said.

Dr Mahathir said he was informed by Muhyiddin that the PH Presidential Council Meeting on the night of February 21 was to urge him to resign for Anwar to be appointed as prime minister.

"Supposedly, I would be forced to appoint Anwar as deputy prime minister immediately," he said.

The purpose, he said, was for him to agree for the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) to leave PH and the PH government would fall.

At the same time, he said, Muhyiddin, Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali and Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin had planned to work with Muafakat Nasional to form a new government to replace PH.

Dr Mahathir explained that his resignation as prime minister on February 23 was not because of PH's proposal for Anwar to take over the post but because he did not get the support of the majority in Bersatu.

Dr Mahathir also explained how Anwar failed to be appointed as prime minister as agreed because Muhyiddin instead had managed to get the Yang di-Pertuan Agong's consent to be appointed as prime minister.