Former two-time Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad blames one man for his fall from power -- his former coalition-mate Anwar Ibrahim.
Surprising absolutely no one, Mahathir put the blame squarely on Anwar during an interview with Utusan Malaysia, but also revealed more details of what occurred during the fateful time in early February 2020 when the then-ruling Pakatan Harapan coalition was teetering on the edge of collapse.
After several shocking political twists and turns, Mahathir resigned as prime minister on Feb. 24, 2020.
Who has support?
The Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Malaysia's king, then had to determine who had the support of the majority of parliament, and did this by interviewing each Member of Parliament.
Mahathir revealed that he received 62 votes, but none of them came from Pakatan Harapan members. He did not say who had voted for him.
Meanwhile, Anwar had 92 votes from Pakatan Harapan members.
However, this meant that neither he nor Anwar commanded the confidence of a parliamentary majority, so neither became prime minister.
"If I received those 92 votes from Harapan, I would have 154, and I would be prime minister. (Anwar) caused me to lose, he lost as well," said Mahathir, as reported by Malaysiakini.
Big tent, but no room for Anwar
Mahathir added that he was a supporter of the "big tent" strategy where multiple opposition parties teamed up in order to defeat the then-incumbent, Barisan Nasional.
However, he said that he was not in favour of Anwar nor former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin of Bersatu being in the same tent, alleging that they were not honest.
When asked why he made that claim, Mahathir's reply focused solely on Anwar, averring that Anwar repeatedly claimed he had enough support to become prime minister when he actually did not.
Mahathir left Bersatu and the Pakatan Harapan coalition and formed a new party, Pejuang.
Pejuang recently fielded 42 candidates in the Johor state assembly elections, with all 42 losing their election deposits.
https://mothership.sg/2022/06/mahathir-blames-anwar/
