THE proposal to nominate Mohd Shafie Apdal as Pakatan Harapan’s candidate for prime minister came from DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, said Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

“It was Lim Guan Eng who suggested Shafie to be our prime minister candidate,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

This came about after PKR shot down suggestions that Dr Mahathir reprise the role of prime minister in June.

“But unfortunately, although the proposal came from him, Lim went back to say it should be Anwar Ibrahim.

“I had initially asked them if they really wanted Shafie and they said yes. But after they met Anwar, they changed their position,” said the frustrated former prime minister at Yayasan Al-Bukhary in Kuala Lumpur.

Dr Mahathir, who led PH for two years, was explaining why he decided to back Sabah Chief Minister Shafie on June 27 instead of Anwar as the coalition’s candidate for prime minister.

While DAP and Amanah did not deny Dr Mahathir’s statement, they later said they are still backing Anwar.

At 95, Dr Mahathir said he is prepared to drop out of the race to be prime minister again but is concerned if there’s enough support if Anwar is the prime minister candidate.

Although two or three more MPs are willing to join the opposition, they allegedly said they would only do so if Anwar is not the prime minister candidate.

The impasse with Anwar, said Dr Mahathir, led to his decision to back Shafie instead.

“If we don’t get Malay support, we cannot overthrow the government. But at the same time, we are having problems as Anwar doesn’t want me,” Dr Mahathir said.

“And although Anwar says he has majority support, every time his name came up, he lost.”

February losers

He said PH would not have fallen if he had the full backing of the coalition during the political turmoil in February.

“When I stepped down (in February) and everyone was asked to state who they wanted, I should have been given full support by PH because they told me they supported me fully.

“But somehow Anwar convinced them he had the majority and that he had enough support to be prime minister. So, PH gave his name.

“I got only 66 votes and Anwar got 92.

“But that 92 should have been given to me because I was supposed to be their candidate and I was also the previous prime minister. As such, I lost and Anwar also lost,” said Dr Mahathir.

The Perikatan Nasional government, formed in early March after Muhyiddin Yassin withdrew Bersatu from PH to ally with Barisan Nasional, PAS, GPS and former PKR leaders, is not a formally registered coalition.

Muhyiddin currently has the support of 115 MPs from these parties, giving him a slim majority in the 222-member Dewan Rakyat.

Moving on, Dr Mahathir said Shafie is a good choice for PH.

“It is very positive as Sabah and Sarawak have contributed a lot towards the government.

“The two states are run by their own people and they have performed very well. Although the national level is a much bigger job, the government service was experienced.

“So even if we have a new leader, the experienced administrators will support him.”

On whether Malays in the peninsula would accept Shafie, Dr Mahathir said: “That is to be tested. Shafie married a Malay from Kedah and his children are married people in the peninsula. He has also been in the federal government.” – July 21, 2020.