PEJUANG chairperson Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is in no position – nor does he have the legitimacy – to call the shots in the formation of a grand opposition coalition to prevent a Barisan Nasional (BN) victory in the upcoming 15th general election (GE15), said Penang deputy chief minister II Dr P. Ramasamy.

The Perai assemblyperson was responding to Mahathir, who, in an interview with Utusan Malaysia, said that while all opposition parties must work together to prevent BN from winning GE15, a “big tent” strategy would be viable if it were not led by either PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim or Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

In the interview, Mahathir also said that he would still be prime minister had it not been for Anwar and added that despite his claims, the latter did not have the support to be the prime minister.

“This is the same old Mahathir again, [always] blaming others for the country’s woes,” Ramasamy said.

“It goes without saying that Mahathir is projecting the image that he is blameless. If Anwar and Muhyiddin were ‘not honest’ (tidak lurus) the same can be said about him as the prime cause of the political misery in the country.”

In the interview with the Malay daily, Mahathir claimed that had Anwar not go for the big push in wanting to be the prime minister during the Pakatan Harapan (Pakatan) administration, the Government would not have collapsed.

“Whether Anwar was engaged in the big push or not pales in significance to the treachery committed by Mahathir against Pakatan right from the start,” Ramasamy noted.

“It was not Anwar who was responsible for bringing down the Pakatan government, but Mahathir himself who had encouraged opposition from inside and out of the Pakatan government.

On the topic of the opposition coalition – grand or otherwise – Ramasamy stressed that Mahathir should not be a part of it.

“While he accuses others of having personal agendas, am I wrong to suggest that he, too, has a personal agenda of his own, which is to be the prime minister for the third time?” – June 3, 2022