THE dispute over Pakatan Harapan’s cabinet appointments yesterday boils down to this – PKR was unsatisfied with their allies’ refusal to move the meeting to the Cheras Rehabilitation Centre. 

That refusal led to PKR officials leaving the Petaling Jaya meeting which was attended by the leaders of DAP, Amanah and Bersatu, and chaired by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, sources said.

PKR apparently wanted the meeting moved to the Rehabilitation Centre so that its de facto leader, Anwar Ibrahim, could participate.

Anwar, who is still serving his prison term, has been receiving treatment at the Cheras centre following surgery to his shoulder.

“The request was made by PKR to (Prime Minister) Tun Mahathir, but Tun Mahathir declined it because the (Cheras centre) was not a suitable place. But Tun visited Anwar after the meeting last night,” a source told Malaysia Decides.

During the meeting at Bersatu’s headquarters in Yayasan Selangor, witnesses saw PKR’s secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail entering the offices before the meeting started.

However, he was seen leaving the building soon after he entered. PKR vice-president Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin was also present in the meeting when it began, but he too left soon after Saifuddin.

At the end of the meeting, Dr Mahathir, who is also Pakatan Harapan presidential council chairman, announced the appointment of three cabinet posts.

They are Bersatu’s Muhyiddin Yassin for home minister, Lim Guan Eng as finance minister and Amanah’s Mohamad Sabu as defence minister.

PKR’s Wan Azizah Wan Ismail is slated to be Dr Mahathir’s deputy prime minister.   

However soon after the announcement, PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli released a statement in which he said the appointments were not final as they were reached without discussion with PKR. 

Rafizi’s statement attracted a storm of criticism from his colleagues in DAP, Amanah and civil society groups who had campaigned for PH. 

DAP and Amanah leaders said the appointments were reached via consensus with them. – May 13, 2018.