Anwar too unpopular with Malays to be prime minister: Mahathir

‘It was only when I joined we managed to win,’ says the veteran politician of the Pakatan Harapan’s election victory in 2018

Mahathir and Anwar’s factions are now embroiled in a stand-off over the coalition’s preferred candidate for prime minister

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Malaysia’s former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad. Photo: EPA

Published: 4:24pm, 1 Jul 2020Updated: 4:24pm, 1 Jul 2020

With Malaysia’s Pakatan Harapan coalition remaining split over who should be its candidate for prime minister, the country’s former leader Mahathir Mohamad has said Anwar Ibrahim is not suitable because is not popular with the Malays.

Mahathir was responding to CNBC, which had asked him why he would not hand the reins to Anwar despite saying he would do so in 2019.

“Well, he is not very popular with the Malays. Now, it has been shown that the support of the Malays is very important for any party to win the election.

“Because he is not popular, being the leader of a multiracial party, he needs somebody who’s the leader of the Malays to win this election.

“With myself as candidate for prime minister, I think we would get the support of the Malays,” said Mahathir.

In the past three general elections, Anwar had failed to get Malay votes, Mahathir said.

“It was only when I joined we managed to win. And this is an achievement, because for 60 years, the government had been the same party.

“This was the first time that change was achieved.”