Dithering on Dr M as Harapan PM-designate will get Anwar nowhere

COMMENT | The longer the Anwar Ibrahim faction in PKR dithers on the naming of Dr Mahathir Mohamad as the Pakatan Harapan prime ministerial candidate, the worse it becomes for him to sustain a clear sight of the position from within the walls of his incarceration in Sungai Buloh.

The matter of Anwar being the explicit choice of DAP, PKR and Amanah as Harapan's PM-nominee had been settled some time ago, with Mahathir, chair of the fourth Harapan partner Bersatu, being the interim PM choice should Harapan win GE14.

This understanding of Mahathir as the Harapan choice of interim PM and Anwar as the eventual nominee was coalescing in the middle of last year.

Undergirding this compact was the understanding that Mahathir will work towards securing a royal pardon for the presently jailed Anwar which should remove the legal trammels in the way of the latter eventually becoming prime minister.

This understanding did not firm up in the intervening months, mainly because the Anwar lobby within PKR has become jittery over a hypothetical scenario in which a Harapan victory will trigger crossovers from a defeated Umno to Bersatu, transforming the latter from its current status as coalition midget to newly reinforced and augmented partner.

This change would give Mahathir (photo) the clout to engage in the manoeuvring at which he is adept and that has earned him the reputation of being the least predictable of politicians.

This is what the Anwar lobby within PKR fears.

It has led them to drag out their acquiescence to an arrangement that had coalesced by the middle of last year but has yet to become the fine print of a pact on which a public announcement could be made and the electorate unequivocally apprised.

Of course, it cannot be said in the public announcement that Mahathir is the Harapan choice of interim PM.

The public announcement would have to be that he is the firm choice as Harapan PM; the private understanding is that Mahathir will lead the interregnum between a Harapan takeover and the commencement of an Anwar premiership once he is legally untrammelled.

The Anwar lobby's vacillation on acquiescing to this arrangement has had consequences.

The public has had the opportunity to buy into Umno-BN's portrayal of Harapan as a brittle coalition that will sunder upon taking power because they have no firm nominee as PM.

The dithering has also enabled other contenders for the PM's position in faction-ridden PKR to take advantage of the ambiguity to float their nominee for PM.

The Anwar lobbyists have mollified the fears of DAP and Amanah, to wit, that PKR's factionalism will undermine Anwar's chances of being PM by saying that once Anwar is out free, the fires of factional strife in the party will bank and be doused...