Dr M: All Anwar wants is to become PM

(MM) – Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today scoffed at his former protégé Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s bid for the Kajang state assembly seat, calling it an attempt to convince the public that he is prime minister material.

The former prime minister said that Anwar has only ever been interested in becoming the nation’s top chief executive, so it is only natural that he uses the post of Selangor mentri besar to prove his mettle as a government head.

“He has always wanted to become a government leader. If not the big post, even a small one would do, so he can prove that he is prime minister material to the rakyat,” he said when interviewed during Bernama Radio 24’s Dalam Radar Khas talk show.

Anwar declared yesterday his intention to contest the Kajang state assembly seat, barely a day after incumbent Lee Chin Cheh announced his sudden resignation for the “benefit” of his party, PKR.

Lee’s announcement came hot on the heels of media speculation of a ploy to replace Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim with Anwar, with a state by-election in the offing to allow the PKR de-facto leader to become a part of the state assembly and qualify for the post.

PKR leaders have since denied the claims, although party deputy president Azmin Ali had said that Anwar was aware of Lee’s plan to quit beforehand.

Dr Mahathir today said Anwar’s decision to contest the Kajang state seat was not surprising.

“His biggest dream is to be PM. What happens after that doesn’t matter… what is important is to become PM,” he said of his former number two.

“I don’t know if he is power-crazy, but when he joined Umno it was not because he loved Umno. He joined Umno for a reason, and just like in this case, there is a reason for it,” he said.

The octogenarian, who was the country’s longest serving prime minister, also denied that his “underlings” have been working hard to engineer the downfall of Umno President and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, as claimed by PKR strategist Rafizi Ramli.

“That is his interpretation, but the movement to topple the government has been around since my time.

“Issues are not important, even after the ISA was abolished, they won’t say ‘thank you, we will now start supporting the government’,” he said, referring to the government’s decision to repeal the controversial Internal Security Act.

“The opposition’s work is to simply oppose whatever it is the government does,” he added.

Earlier today, Rafizi claimed that the decision to make Anwar Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) candidate for the Kajang state seat was part of a strategy to deal with alleged plans by Umno and the Barisan Nasional (BN) to use racial and religious issues to cripple the PR-led Selangor administration.

The Pandan MP alleged that it was an open secret that Dr Mahathir’s underlings in Umno have been pushing hard to unseat Najib.

Should Najib fall, a full-blown manipulation of racial and religious issues to create mistrust of and frustration with the Selangor government can be expected, Rafizi added.