DR Mahathir Mohamad must stop trying to derail Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) efforts to take back the people’s mandate, said Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin.

The PKR information chief said the former prime minister appeared desperate to remain politically relevant.

“His attack on Anwar Ibrahim (PKR president) is baseless and can be described as an attempt to betray and thwart PH’s efforts to regain power.

“We are all aware of Dr Mahathir’s failure as the prime minister to defend the reform agenda and the mandate given by the people during the 22 months PH ruled the country,” he said in a statement today.

Earlier, Dr Mahathir said Anwar would not be a good prime minister as he might not be able to steer the country out of a financial crisis.

He said this was evident in 1997 when he allowed Anwar, then his deputy, to handle the Asian financial crisis while he was on sabbatical .

Dr Mahathir also said Anwar had not invited him or his party, Pejuang, to join in the attempts to overthrow the Perikatan Nasional government.

“Even though Bersatu has left PH, some of us are still willing to work with PH to return the mandate to the people.

“We can get a majority but Anwar has refused to work with us – me especially.

“If he rejects me, then I cannot invite others to support PH to get a majority. That is why we are not in government.”

Shamsul said Dr Mahathir, who had resigned his office without consulting the PH leadership, was why the coalition government fell.

His resignation, he said, had led to Bersatu’s defection and cooperation with other parties to take over the government, which was now led by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, Dr Mahathir’s former number two.

“Therefore, as Anwar and the PH leadership work to mobilise the support of various parties to regain the people’s mandate that was seized, Dr Mahathir needs to stop his actions that are seen as moves to divide PH and thwart its efforts.”

He added that Dr Mahathir should stop to think so that he would realise it was his own actions that had caused political instability.  

“He should help Anwar and PH to take back the people’s mandate, not hinder them.” – November 14, 2020.