PM's adviser says PH must honour pledge for Mahathir to be in charge, and Anwar understands the political situation very well.
Daim Zainuddin says Pakatan Harapan must honour its election pledge that Mahathir would be the prime minister.
KUALA LUMPUR: Senior government advisor Daim Zainuddin has allayed fears of disagreements in Pakatan Harapan (PH) about Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s tenure as prime minister, amid pressure for recently-released PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim to take over.
He attributed the pressure to impatience among young politicians, not Anwar, describing the de facto PKR leader as a polished and experienced politician.
He also reminded PH politicians that the coalition must honour its election campaign pledge for Mahathir to be prime minister.
“When you sell Tun M as the seventh PM you have to honour that, in fact you have to honour everything in the manifesto,” he said.
“Sometimes in any political party there are those that are impatient. It’s the young fellows that are in a hurry, like most young people, which you also must accept,” he told reporters.
“They are the ones that are impatient, not Anwar. Anwar understands the political situation very clearly. Anwar knows what the people think,” Daim said.
Mahathir has said he would stay for two years and hand over the post to Anwar. His intentions came under question as soon as Anwar was freed on Wednesday from a five-year jail sentence after receiving a royal pardon.
Anwar has stated that a two-year time frame was ideal for him to take over as prime minister.
Daim said he had met Anwar a couple of times and “Anwar is a very polished politician, he knows the ground very well”.
Criticism has also arisen of Mahathir naming himself as education minister, with complaints that he was violating a manifesto pledge that the prime minister should not hold two portfolios.
Maszlee Malik has since been named as education minister.
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Sumber Daim: Impatient young ones pushing for Anwar