Kuala Lumpur – Following the announcement that Pakatan Harapan has formed an electoral pact with newly formed Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, MIC Treasurer General Datuk Seri S.Vel Paari has raised the question who would be the Prime Minister in the event the opposition coalition succeeds in defeating Barisan Nasional in GE-14.
Referring to the news that Pakatan Harapan, comprising of DAP, PKR and PAN now has formed a new electoral pact with Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) to ensure one-on-one fights against Barisan Nasional in the next election, Vel Paari said: “First of all, there has been numerous pacts, alliances etc. that was done by the opposition throughout the years. As far as I can recall, it was Barisan Alternatif in 1998, then we had Pakatan Rakyat in 2008 & 2013 and now Pakatan Harapan in 2016. But all of this pacts or alliances consist of the same opposition leaders i.e. Anwar Ibrahim, Dr. Wan Azizah, Lim Kit Siang and others. Every time when there is an election around the corner, they will decide to work together but after elections they will then break up again and start to fight one another. Secondly, this clearly shows that the opposition’s aim in forming political pacts is only to “play politics” and not to work for the betterment of the rakyat as what Barisan Nasional (BN) does. What is more surprising is that Pakatan Harapan is now working with a party that is chaired by Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, a leader that they so despised previously. Lim Kit Siang once famously called Dr. Mahathir Mohamad an undemocratic leader and a liar (Reference: http://www.limkitsiang.com/archive/1999/Nov99/sg2057.htm). Now they are working together to safe their family political dynasties”.
“Thirdly, I would like to ask this new pact, who is their candidate to be the Prime Minister if let’s say they win the next General Election. Will it be Anwar Ibrahim, Muhyiddin Yassin or Mukhriz Mahathir? I am sure that until today they can’t even confirm who will be their Prime Minister candidate because everybody in that pact is fighting for that position. In BN, we do not have this problem as everybody is solidly together as a team and will go into the election as one team, with one leader as Prime Minister that is Datuk Seri Haji Najib Bin Tun Abdul Razak” Vel Paari further said.
“Finally, my advice to these opposition leaders is that they should learn from BN on how to work as a coalition. We do not change our coalition before every election like they do but we stick with one, i.e. Barisan Nasional. At times, of course we do have differences in opinion, but we always believe in the spirit of Barisan Nasional and we stick together as one. Barisan Nasional has been a coalition for 43 years with 13 component parties and we are still standing strong with the support of the rakyat” Vel Paari said in his statement.
