PRIME Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad would have left Pakatan Harapan (PH) last year if not for an intervention and personal plea to stay by PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar, said DAP strategist Liew Chin Tong.

In an interview with Oriental Daily, Liew said that Dr Mahathir, 92, had written a letter to Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin, telling him to take the party out of the opposition pact.

The letter was written last year before Dr Mahathir left for London during the Hari Raya holidays.

“It was over differences in opinion on PH’s leadership structure. All four parties could not reach an agreement.

“Nurul Izzah rushed to London to see Dr Mahathir and managed to convince him to stay,” he said in the interview.

Bersatu, which was founded and chaired by Dr Mahathir, was the newest inclusion into PH, which already had DAP, PKR and Amanah.

PH reached a stalemate when it could not settle the leadership structure and name its office bearers, which was necessary for the registration of the coalition with the Registrar of Societies.

The registration was also necessary to enable PH parties to contest under the same logo in the 14th general election.

Soon after the London meeting, PH named Dr Mahathir as the pact’s chairman while Nurul Izzah’s father Anwar Ibrahim was made de facto leader, and her mother Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, PH president.

The four-party alliance, with Dr Mahathir as chairman, went on to beat the odds and defeat Barisan Nasional in GE14, removing the coalition from government after 61 years in power.

Dr Wan Azizah is now deputy prime minister in Dr Mahathir’s cabinet.

“It was the historic meeting between Nurul Izzah and Dr Mahathir, which changed everything,” Liew told the Chinese daily.

Last year, The Malaysian Insight reported how Nurul Izzah had gone to London to speak with Dr Mahathir about the PH leadership crisis.

When asked about Liew’s relevation, Nurul Izzah declined to comment.

“Let it remain a secret in history,” the Permatang Pauh MP told Malaysia Decides. – May 25, 2018.