Malaysia PM Anwar does not want enmity with Dr Mahathir to continue

KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said he does not want the strained relationship between him and his predecessor, Mahathir Mohamad, to continue and that his main focus right now is his duties as the country’s leader.

In an interview with CNBC Indonesia TV which was aired on Friday night, Datuk Seri Anwar said he does not want to entertain any comments made by Tun Dr Mahathir.

“The people have chosen and given their mandate to me to do the job. I am focusing on that… but I also don’t want this to be perceived as a never-ending enmity (with Dr Mahathir),” he said in response to a question on his relationship with the elder statesman.

The special interview was pre-recorded during Mr Anwar’s two-day visit to Indonesia last weekend.

The relationship between Mr Anwar and Dr Mahathir was characterised by decades of enmity.

Between stints as deputy prime minister in the 1990s and as official prime minister-in-waiting in 2018, Mr Anwar spent nearly a decade in jail for sodomy and corruption on charges he says were politically motivated.

Dr Mahathir had called Mr Anwar his friend and protege, and anointed him his successor, but later, amid criminal charges and disagreements over how to handle the Asian financial crisis in 1998, he said Mr Anwar was unfit to lead “because of his character”.

The two buried the hatchet briefly in 2018 to oust from power then ruling Barisan Nasional coalition – only to fall out again within two years, ending their 22-month-old Pakatan Harapan government and plunged Malaysia into a period of instability.

The result of the last election in Nov 24 saw the country in a political limbo after no coalition gained enough seats to form a government.

Mr Anwar and rival Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin – whose coalitions had the two largest blocs in Parliament but no simple majority needed to form the government – were racing against each other to become premier.

The situation was only resolved when Mr Anwar gain the backing from the Umno-led Barisan Nasional to form a unity government.

During the interview, Mr Anwar was also asked about the politics in Malaysia, which the prime minister said was different from Indonesia and some other countries.

National news agency Bernama reported Mr Anwar as saying “political hostility” in Malaysia has been described as “very sharp”, which he said could be due to the legacy of Dr Mahathir’s leadership style.

“Whoever does not support him (Dr Mahathir) is considered an enemy… and this situation (sharp political hostility) has continued until now.

“But at least we (the government) acted quickly (by changing to the new political style) by thinking about the country, the future and political stability, and so we succeeded in forming a coalition with a stance of good governance and rejecting corruption and this principle has been agreed upon.

“I hope our Opposition (in Malaysia) will not continue to ‘sharpen’ the political hostility, and I have also asked them to refrain from issuing statements that incriminate or label people as infidels…if this can be alleviated, we can have a better dialogue,” he said. THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK, REUTERS