PENANTI: Pakatan Rakyat has yet to decide on who will be prime minister if the coalition wins the general election.
PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim admitted that leaders of Pakatan leaders have yet to reach a consensus on the issue.
However, he claimed that PAS spiritual leader Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat has endorsed a letter from world renowned Muslim scholar Yusuf al Qaradawi of Egypt supporting him [Anwar] to be the prime minister.
He claimed that Nik Aziz had launched and endorsed Yusuf’s three-page letter several days ago during a PAS election talk in Pokok Sena, Kedah.
Anwar claimed in his letter, Yusuf had also called on Malaysians to support Pakatan to form the next federal government.
“Pakatan has not reached a consensus on the position of prime minister. We wanted to focus on the election instead and decide on the issue later,” he told a press conference here today.
Also present was PKR president and Anwar’s wife Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
Anwar’s disclosure that Pakatan has not reached a consensus is a surprise given that DAP has put election billboards announcing Anwar as the coalition’s prime minister.
Contentious issue
It is highly likely that the position of prime minister would be a contentious issue in Pakatan if it wins Putrajaya.
Although Nik Aziz had tacitly endorsed Anwar for the premiership, as claimed by the PKR supremo, PAS grassroots leaders and members seem to favour their president Abdul Hadi Awang.
The PAS factor can be decisive in Anwar’s battle in the Permatang Pauh parliamentary constituency.
His Barisan Nasional opponent Mazlan Ismail is formerly a local PAS leader. Mazlan was PAS election director in Penang for the 1999 and 2004 general elections.
Mazlan had been given a friendly warm reception by PAS supporters during his campaign tour.
However, Anwar remains unruffled, expressing confidence that Pakatan would form the next federal government with a comfortable polls victory.
Huge crowd turnouts at Pakatan rallies across the country, especially frontier states of Johor, Sabah and Sarawak have convinced Anwar that the people were backing the coalition’s drive for change.
He claimed that he could sense people’s awakening and uprising to trigger a democratic revolution on Sunday.
He said caretaker Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, the police and armed forces have all given assurances that any transition of power would be conducted smoothly.
He also reminded civil servants not to get engrossed in political battles between Pakatan and BN.
He called on them to avoid collaboration with crimes like destroying government property and documents if there was a change of government.
“Our election battle is not with government officers. They should not do anything that contravenes the law.
“Or else they have to answer to the law,” warned Anwar.
