'Focus to win election,' Azmin says of Harapan's PM survey

Confronted with a call for Pakatan Harapan to return its prime minister candidate's choice to the people, PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali responded that the focus should be on winning the 14th general election.

"That is his opinion. Most important is to win the election," Azmin said last night when asked on Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia Youth chief Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman's call for Harapan to commission an independent survey and gauge the popularity of its shortlisted candidates for the prime minister's post.

"We all want to win the election. All parties are focused on strategies to win.

"After we win, and then we can discuss (who will be prime minister)," Azmin added.

Two days after PKR's 7th National Congress, which saw Harapan leaders endorsing the party's plan to appoint jailed former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim as the next prime minister, Syed Saddiq (photo) said in an open letter that this decision must be returned to the people.

This move, the Selangor menteri besar said, would also be in line with Anwar's message in his own letter from prison that any decision made should be decided by the people, instead of just a group of elites or top leaders.

Both analysts and critics have called on PKR to move beyond its plan to appoint party president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as an interim prime minister before handing over the position to Anwar, upon his release from prison.

However, Azmin insisted that Anwar has long been a symbol of oppression, whose freedom would symbolise a victory for the people.

"Anwar's freedom is freedom of the people. That has always been our (PKR) position," he said.

Pakatan Harapan secretariat chief Saifuddin Abdullah merely smiled and walked off when asked for his comment on the matter.

The inclusion of Bersatu as a member of the federal opposition pact has sparked debate over possibilities of other prime ministerial candidates, besides Anwar.

Among others, former law minister Zaid Ibrahim had endorsed Bersatu chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad as the opposition's prime minister candidate, saying that the 91-year-old was the only one who could convince the Malays that he would not be a puppet prime minister.- Mkini