PETALING JAYA: Former Sabah chief minister Salleh Said Keruak today played down any concern over Anwar Ibrahim’s position as prime minister, saying the Pakatan Harapan (PH) leader had no serious contender to deal with.
Salleh also said that opposition coalition Perikatan Nasional (PN) was not a significant threat and would struggle for support as long as Muhyiddin Yassin remained as its leader.
“It is normal for the opposition to criticise the prime minister every day but criticism without contention leads to nothing,” he said in a Facebook post.
“This is because the contender (Muhyiddin) is weak politically within his party and within his coalition. I believe PAS is fully aware of Muhyiddin’s lack of leadership as well as popular support.”
Umno veteran Shahrir Samad previously said that opposition MPs were swaying towards the government as they had no opportunity to become acquainted with the PN chairman.
So far, four MPs from Bersatu have pledged their support for Anwar’s government: Suhaili Abdul Rahman (Labuan), Iskandar Dzulkarnain Abdul Khalid (Kuala Kangsar), Azizi Abu Naim (Gua Musang) and Zahari Kechik (Jeli).
Other politicians have meanwhile contended that it is PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang who actually leads the opposition coalition, despite Muhyiddin being in the top post.
Salleh also said Anwar could rest assured that Umno and most East Malaysian political parties would not join PN, primarily due to concerns about Muhyiddin.
“Had this not been the case, the political landscape would have changed after the 15th general election,” he said.
He added that people might not have forgotten the challenges they faced during the Covid-19 pandemic when Muhyiddin was in office.
Muhyiddin was sworn in as the country’s eighth prime minister on March 1, 2020, following the collapse of the PH government a month before.
He resigned 17 months later against a backdrop of increasing public anger over the Covid-19 surge and internal political squabbles.
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