POLITICS: KUALA LUMPUR/SHAH ALAM- The next PM will be Anwar if the rakyat wish it: Mahathir
Tan Sri Johan Jaafar and Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad at the ‘ Bicara Minda’ event at Karangkraf Hall. — Sunpix by Asyraf Rasid
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SHAH ALAM: Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has reiterated that when he resigns, the next prime minister will be Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, if Malaysians wish it.
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“It is my promise that when I resign, the next prime minister will be Anwar if the rakyat wish it,” Mahathir told a forum moderated by Tan Sri Johan Jaafar and organised by Malay-language daily Sinar Harian today.
Mahathir then pointed out that he will eventually leave his post and there must be a replacement to lead the nation.
On another matter, Mahathir said the fact that he was now working with people he once considered his enemies showed that he was not a vengeful person.
“I have no interest in vengeance,” he said.
He also added that Umno President Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi should prove his innocence if he is not guilty of the Malaysian-Anti Corruption Commision’s (MACC) slapping Zahid with 45 charges of criminal breach of trust (CBT), for allegedly accepting bribes and money-laundering amounting to RM114,148,983.86.
He was responding to allegations by certain quarters who claimed that the recent charges against Zahid was an example of political prosecution.
In the interview, Mahathir also made reference to the controversy surrounding the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Ahmad Khashoggi.
“It is horrible what happened,” he said, referring to Khashoggi, who vanished after entering the Saudi consulate in Turkey early this month. The journalist is believed to have been tortured and killed by Saudi agents.
“We can’t accept such act. We also have those we don’t like. We don’t kill them. In the past, there were people who didn’t like us. Our country doesn’t have things like this and we don’t kill government critics,” he added.