KUALA LUMPUR, May 15 — Pakatan Harapan (PH) is focusing on reforms and will not rush Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s installation as the eighth prime minister, said his wife Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

The PKR president’s remarks dovetail with that of Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his advisor, former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin, which suggest that Anwar will not be elevated to the position soon after his expected release. 

“What we want for Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s government is for it to run smoothly, for it to bring about the change we want,” Dr Wan Azizah was quoted as saying by the Malaysiakini news portal.

She spoke at the Cheras Rehabilitation Hospital where Anwar is being treated.

When pressed to say if Anwar will be swiftly installed as PM once he can be elected to Parliament, she replied in the negative.

“This is all part of what we have planned,” she was further quoted as saying.

PH previously said its plan after winning the general election was to secure a royal pardon for Anwar to clear the way for him to stand for election and be made prime minister.

Daim reportedly said today that hastily removing Dr Mahathir for Anwar would be foolish.

Dr Mahathir also told the Wall Street Journal in a televised interview that he intended to stay as PM for a year or two in order to build a case against former PM Datuk Seri Najib Razak over the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal.

Anwar must still go through a Pardons Board hearing scheduled for tomorrow morning, but the event is likely to only be procedural as Dr Mahathir previously said Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Muhammad V has expressed readiness to grant Anwar a royal pardon.