KUALA LUMPUR, – Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today said he is open to the idea of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad staying on in the Cabinet after stepping down as the prime minister.
The PKR president said this would allow Dr Mahathir to continue contributing to the country’s progress and economic development.
However, Anwar said he would leave it to the Pakatan Harapan (PH) Presidential Council to decide.
“It would also certainly help in terms of getting a more peaceful sort of transition and at the same time steer the economy forward,” he told reporters on the sidelines of HELP University’s symposium entitled “The Construct of a Nation: As I See It” here today.
Anwar also stressed that he does not plan to be a member of the Cabinet before the power transition happens.
However, Anwar said that neither he nor Dr Mahathir should be pressured on the power transition issue.
The nation should focus on other issues such as the economic situation or the COVID-19 outbreak, he added.
“The prime minister has said that it is going to be after the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) (Summit) so we will deal with this, and I don’t think anyone should be put under pressure,” he said.
He said Dr Mahathir should be given the latitude to rule, adding that he has no reason to doubt the prime minister’s sincerity to hand over power.
Before the 14th general election, the PH leadership agreed that Dr Mahathir would become the seventh prime minister if the coalition won and that Anwar would succeed him before the next polls. -BERNAMA