Mahathir refuses to quit or hand over to Anwar

In a statement that breaks his long and overdue silence on the chaos created in Malaysia, interim PM Mahathir keeps his grip on power.

He intends to keep a firmer and freer grip on the reins in Malaysia if he is allowed to form a government.

In the speech, he admits he knew about the attempt to form a ‘backdoor’ government.

But he did not agree to it only because the Umno wanted to be the dominant component in the new regime.

The regime was to be headed by him. He refused such a plan.

Here in Malay the part where Mahathir speaks about the backdoor government:

Jadi peluang untuk menukar kepimpinan memang ada. Hanya saya berpendapat oleh kerana saya disokong oleh kedua-dua pihak, masa untuk saya letak jawatan belum tiba.

“Saya minta diberi masa. Tetapi parti saya BERSATU memutuskan untuk keluar dari Pakatan Harapan. Ada juga ahli dari parti komponen lain yang akan keluar. Dengan perlakuan ini Kerajaan Pakatan Harapan akan gugur.

“Kesannya jika BERSATU sokong PAS dan UMNO maka parti-parti yang kalahlah yang akan diri Kerajaan. Kerajaan ini akan didominasi oleh UMNO sebagai parti yang terbesar.

“Saya sanggup terima ahli UMNO yang keluar UMNO dan menyertai parti lain. Tetapi UMNO akan sertai Kerajaan campuran ini sebagai Parti UMNO. Ini tidak dapat diterima oleh saya. Maka terpaksalah saya letak jawatan.”

Literally, it translates to:

So the opportunity to change leadership is there. Because I was given support by both parties (PH and UMNO-PAS), it was not yet time for me to resign.

"I asked for them to give me more time. But my party Bersatu decided to leave Pakatan Harapan. There are also others who left the PH. The effect of this is the PH government fell.

"In effect, if the Bersatu supports the PAS and UMNO to join the government, then the losing parties (in the last elections) will control the Government. This government will be dominated by UMNO as the largest party.

"I can accept UMNO members who leave UMNO and join other parties. But if UMNO join the government as a whole, it is unacceptable to me. Then I was forced to resign."

NO MENTION OF HANDING OVER TO ANWAR

Contrary to all the media conferences and interviews in which he said he will hand over power to Anwar Ibrahim, this time he kept mum on it.

He said he was prepared to let the Parliament decide who will become the next PM after him.

But he resigned after he was told he is power crazy. His resignation is to show that he is not power-crazy.

But he continues saying instead, he wants to remain in power and if given the chance he will form a government.

But the government will not be based on party alliances, instead, it will be about personalities that he will pick and chose.

CHAOS

Saying he apologises for the chaos created with his sudden and brutal resignation as Prime Minister, Mahathir says he has an agenda.

Here is his full speech.

He says for the winners or losers it is the party that is important. But for him, after he resigned as chairman of his party, it is not the case.

Mahathir says if he still has the support of the parties that gave him support earlier, he will then form a new government.

However, the Parti Islam Malaysia and the Umno has retracted their support for Mahathir.

They did not agree to form a government with him as PM but without all their members in the government.

Mahathir only wanted some members of the Umno to join him in the new ‘backdoor’ government.

When that failed and the Pakatan Harapan pressed for him to set a date for his departure as PM, he quit.

Only to return as the interim PM who is now in charge to form a new government.

If he has no majority then the King of Malaysia will have to decide the next step forward.