By Chew Lip Song

TUN Dr Mahathir Mohamad had wanted to form a unity government without Pakatan Harapan (PH), Parti Keadilan Rakyat vice-president Datuk Dr Xavier Jayakumar claimed, as grand treachery continue to unfold in a country beset by unprecedented political crisis.

The former Water, Land and Natural Resources Minister said with the benefit of hindsight, this became clear as Dr Mahathir had allowed various damning events to take its course, resulting in the inevitable collapse of PH.

“On Friday (February 21) the PH presidential council meeting agreed to give Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad the freedom to determine when he steps down as Prime Minister. This was to save PH as the government chosen by the people,” he said in a statement.

But on Sunday (February 23), Datuk Seri Azmin Ali, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Datuk Seri Hadi Awang executed the attempted coup, to form a Pakatan Nasional coalition.

“This was going on for the whole day with the events at Sheraton PJ and various party meetings elsewhere and there

was no attempt by Tun Dr Mahathir to put a stop to this. Instead, he chose to hole himself up in his residence in the aftermath of all the events,” he added.

After failing to secure the numbers which lead to the failure of the coup , Bersatu had already pulled out of PH, leading to the fall of the PH government, Dr Xavier added.

The whole kerfuffle, he said, had nothing to do with Anwar.

Even after Dr Mahathir resigned as Prime Minister, PH continued to rally around him to show solidarity to the Interim Prime Minister.

“Instead of calling the elected representatives to resume administration, he started to have different ideas of forming a unity government with technocrats and also opted to clearly sideline PH leaders.

“To him, it seems there can be only one leader with full unchecked authority in making a swift decision with technocrats. No party involvement, no party leaders for check and balance.”

The country, he said, had always had a government elected by the people for the people.

Dr Xavier also clarified that Dr Mahathir’s refusal to attend the PH council meeting and the latter’s insistence on a unity government was the reason why the coalition decided to nominate Anwar as candidate for the premiership.

“The question is why can’t Tun Dr Mahathir now hand over power to Anwar and retire peacefully ? Why did he supposedly pre-empt the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong over a special parliament sitting announcement?

“All Tun Dr Mahathir had to do was to sack five cabinet members, reappoint and move on.”

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