A NOTE from prison yesterday scuttled Pakatan Harapan’s presidential council meeting where the leaders were finalising its list of office bearers to be submitted to the Registrar of Societies.

It was not an ordinary note. It came from the Sungai Buloh Prison.

The Malaysian Insight learnt that former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who is serving a five-year jail term for sodomy at Sungai Buloh prison, wanted to keep the original PH lineup, and this scuppered the Opposition coalition’s plan to unveil its lineup yesterday.

Sources said while the majority of PH leaders had agreed to a new lineup which would see Dr Mahathir Mohamad as chairman and Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as president, Anwar in his note, insisted on the original lineup.

In the original lineup, Dr Mahathir would be the advisor, while Dr Wan Azizah would be the chairman. The three vice-chairman seats would be filled by Muhyiddin Yassin (Bersatu), Mohamad Sabu (Amanah) and Lim Guan Eng (DAP).

Bersatu had complained that this structure would mean that Dr Mahathir did not have any executive powers as the coalition’s advisor.

“The meeting today was to discuss the proposal to appoint Dr Mahathir as the chairman and Wan Azizah as the president of PH.

“But because of the note, the decision had to be postponed again,” the source told The Malaysian Insight.

The Malaysian Insight learnt that Bersatu, Amanah and DAP had already agreed to the latest proposal but PKR wanted it to be referred to Anwar before a decision is made.

According to another source, who attended yesterday’s meeting, they could not reach a consensus because PKR could not agree to Dr Mahathir’s appointment as chairman of PH.

At the press conference after the three-hour meeting yesterday, PKR president Wan Azizah said she was confident that they will resolve the issue next week.

“We have already achieved a lot today. Hopefully, we will be able announce the presidential council next week,” she had said.

During the same press conference, Bersatu deputy president Mukhriz Mahathir admitted that his side had proposed a new structure at the meeting. – June 10, 2017.