PETALING JAYA: Pejuang chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad said his party would reject joining the opposition coalition if it is led by PKR president Anwar Ibrahim or Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin.
The former prime minister said all opposition parties have to work together under one “big tent” so that they can defeat Barisan Nasional in the General Election (GE15) which is expected to be held end of this year.
However, Dr Mahathir stressed, his party Pejuang will not join the coalition if it is led by Anwar or Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin, Utusan Malaysia reported.
In an interview with the national media, he described the Anwar and Muhyiddin as “leaders with personal agendas.”
“We find that many political parties that exist now do not directly pay attention to the country’s problems.
“They just pay attention and take action on their own politics whether they can lead the party, be a candidate or be an elected representative, be a minister, that’s their focus,” he was quoted as saying.
“Yes, if it’s possible, there should be a ‘big tent’ as the country is going through so many problems … especially the Malays, (who) have a lot of problems. But we have to find someone who is unswerving,” he said.
Asked why Muhyiddin and Anwar were not fit to lead the big tent, he simply said they were “not straight”.
“Anwar doesn’t have the support. He has announced that he wants to be the prime minister several times, but it didn’t come to pass because he didn’t have the support,” he said.
Mahathir also stressed that it was because of Anwar he stepped down as prime minister in 2020.
“If it wasn’t for him, I would still be prime minister today ,” he said.
