PAKATAN Harapan politicians unhappy with the lack of details on the prime minister’s transition timeline should use existing channels within their parties instead of making public statements all the time, said DAP deputy secretary-general Teresa Kok.

“The constant bickering on the outside will only jeopardise the government’s image and the unity of the PH coalition.

“The extra noise only serves to distract everyone from the job of rebuilding the country,” the primary industries minister told The Malaysian Insight today.

All four PH parties – PKR, DAP, Bersatu and Amanah – are represented in the presidential council, which is the right forum for the transition plan to be discussed, she said.

PH members unhappy with the lack of clarity on the timeline and who want it to take place sooner should raise the matter with their leaders.

“After all, all the parties’ leaders already sit in the presidential council,” said the five-term Seputeh MP.

Kok was commenting on the latest round of public spat among PH politicians over when Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad should transfer power to PKR president Anwar Ibrahim.

The succession plan was agreed to by all PH parties but lacks a fixed timeline. 

Dr Mahathir only said he prefers to hand over after Malaysia hosted the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum in November.

Yesterday, Bersatu youth chief Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman ticked off several politicians from PKR and DAP who have been urging Dr Mahathir to step down in May instead of November.

This prompted a volley of statements from them in retaliation to Syed Saddiq’s comments.

Last week, at a public forum, a group of PKR lawmakers also called for Dr Mahathir to step down in May.

Kok said all parties need to calm down and stop pressuring Dr Mahathir to resign in May.

“There’s a lot of unfair accusations being thrown against the prime minister. 

“Surveys or straw polls that are being done about who should be the next PM are really unfair to him as he is really trying his best to reform the government.”

A survey on who should be the next prime minister was created on strawpoll.com yesterday following the latest barrage of comments on the transition issue.

As at 11.36am today, there were 805 votes with Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin leading the poll with 64.35% followed by Anwar at 29.57%. Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail completed the poll with 6.09% of the votes.

The poll was created yesterday by a user registered in Singapore and will close at 12pm next Monday. – January 22, 2020.