The Malaysian Insight

ANY attempt to force Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to hand over his office to Anwar Ibrahim in the coming months will only increase the negative perception of Pakatan Harapan (PH), said analysts.

Similarly, Anwar will only be seen as a power grabber if his supporters tried to bring the forward handover date specified by Dr Mahathir, they said.

In December, the prime minister reiterated his pledge to hand over to Anwar after the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) conference, which will take place in Kuala Lumpur in November.

Last week, several PKR lawmakers demanded that Dr Mahathir step down by May, saying that investors are withholding investment because they are not certain who will lead the government.

“Well to be honest the May and November dateline, even though they are six months apart, have one thing in common: the handover date is full of uncertainties,” said Azmi Hassan, a lecturer at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.

“It does not matter if there are demands for Dr Mahathir to hand over by February this year. The date does not make any difference if uncertainties still exist.”

He added that voter perception is Anwar’s camp is trying to force Dr Mahathir to hand over the post, while the other perception is that Dr Mahathir is trying to hang on as long as possible.

“This scenario is not good for the government because it gives the impression that these politicians are only interested in power grabbing.

“What happened in the Tg Piai by-election and more recently in Kimanis is the result of this jostling for power.”

Meanwhile, Universiti Malaya’s Awang Azman Awang Pawi believes Anwar should take over as prime minister as soon as possible.

“This period is for Anwar to prove himself as prime minister,” he said, adding that the Port Dickson MP must be hands-on in the planning stages of the 12th Malaysia Plan, which will begin to roll out by the third quarter of 2020.

“His absence in the plan will be the main excuse used by his political enemies, who want to ensure that Dr Mahathir be retained for the entire term of office.

“Anwar and PKR must not be trapped by the political plays of their enemies, inside and outside PH, who are trying to delay the transfer of power.

“The issue has nothing to do with the PAS or Umno. PAS is only grateful for the RM400 million disbursed by Putrajaya.

“There’s no need to entertain PAS or Umno, which is irrelevant.”

James Chin of the University of Tasmania’s Asia Institute believes there will be no transition this year.

“Basically, Dr Mahathir doesn’t think Anwar is PM material.

“Dr Mahathir will try to stay in power as long as he can. He has to build up Bersatu to be equal to DAP and PKR.

“The PH leaders know the problem but they are afraid to confront Dr Mahathir, because he can quite easily create a new coalition if you push him against the wall.

“Hence, DAP is mostly silent. Additionally, a lot of leaders are silent because they know age will catch up with Dr Mahathir.

“If PH wants to regain public trust, set a date. Right now, there is no date other than Dr Mahathir’s one-off announcement that he wants to host Apec.”

Chin added that setting a date is important because the market wants to know who will be in charge next year.

“A lot of investments are being held back because people do not know who is leading the country.” – January 20, 2020.