BERSATU youth chief Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman should shut up and respect the right of Pakatan Harapan leaders to question Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad over the handover of power plan, DAP leader Dr P. Ramasamy said.

“Syed Saddiq should just close his gap rather than question the democratic right of PKR and DAP leaders who are merely asking Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to honour the transition agreement,” the Penang deputy chief minister II said in a statement.

He added that no one is forcing Dr Mahathir to relinquish his position immediately. 

“(We just want) him to fix a date of handover power to the next in line who is PKR president Anwar Ibrahim.”

Ramasamy’s statement follows Syed Saddiq’s Facebook post earlier this evening slamming those he accused of pressuring Dr Mahathir to hasten the power transition plan.

Syed Saddiq named Ramasamy among the “Anwar supporters” who have been pressing the matter.

“Who is Syed to tell me what I can and cannot say?” Ramasamy added.

He agreed that it was the PH presidential council’s consensus that Dr Mahathir would be an interim prime minister, but noted that a date for the handover had not been fixed.

Dr Mahathir had also provided crucial leadership in the absence of Anwar, who was in prison when PH won the general election, but now the time had come to resolve the issue of power transition, Ramasamy said.

This is more so following the ruling’s coalition’s loss of five by-elections in a row since the 2018 general election, he said.

“What is wrong with setting a definite date for the power transition? I am sure Mahathir has no problem with this but  Syed Saddiq seems to be jumping up and down to earn some brownie points from Mahathir.

“As a minister his performance leaves much to be desired for. Perhaps he should look at himself first before commenting about others,” Ramasamy added.

Dr Mahathir has said he preferred to step down after November when Malaysia hosts the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum.

It was Syed Saddiq’s belief that PH had already reached a consensus for Anwar to succeed Dr Mahathir, and repeated calls for the latter to step down earlier were distracting him from running the country.

PKR vice-president Chang Lih Kang, meanwhile, tweeted in response to Syed Saddiq that those he named were not questioning the PH consensus but the lack of a specific date.

“What exactly is the PH consensus? Two years or no date? If it is two years, then it’s correct that it should be May 2020. If there is no date, then it could be any time. What is your answer, Syed bro? – January 21, 2020.