Dr Mahathir empowering Azmin to keep Anwar in check, says report


(TMI) – PRIME Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad is giving Economic Affairs Minister Azmin Ali wide powers over critical government-linked companies to neutralise the influence of Anwar Ibrahim, the Straits Times reports.

The Singapore daily news outlet said the PM’s move could strengthen Azmin’s position while checking Anwar’s within PKR, of which Anwar is the de facto leader.

Azmin and PKR colleague Zuraida Kamaruddin, who is housing and local government minister, are said to be members of rival camp against Anwar and his wife, Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

Quoting sources, the report said the Economic Affairs portfolio oversees sovereign wealth funds Permodalan Nasional Bhd and Khazanah Nasional Bhd, as well as national oil company Petronas. The three companies with an estimated worth of RM1 trillion were previously the purview of  Ministry of Finance Inc during the Barisan Nasional administration.

There is also talk that agencies in charge of Malay/Muslim welfare, such as the Tabung Haji and Felda will be placed under Azmin’s ministry, the report said.

“The scope is so wide that earlier plans to place International Trade and Industry under MEA will likely be ditched,” said a source was quoted as saying.

“The manoeuvres by Dr Mahathir, who fended off several challenges to his leadership during his first tenure as prime minister from 1981 to 2003, are seen as just another strategy from his divide-and-conquer playbook,” said the report.

Dr Mahathir heads the government after May 9. His party Bersatu won 13 parliamentary seats compared with PKR’s 49. Both parties are components of the Pakatan Harapan.

PKR president Wan Azizah Wan Ismail was named deputy prime minister but the party was left out when it came to the education, finance, defence and home affairs portfolios, all of which are senior ministries, the paper said.

Since his release from prison, Anwar has become the intermediary between the new government and the Malay rulers who still have some say in the filling of key institutional posts.

Anwar has said that his meetings with the Malay rulers had been held to explain to them  government policies and to debunk fears the PH administration would sideline the sultans and the Malays.

Anwar has also refuted claims he is secretly undermining the work of the prime minister, which many believe had occurred the first time the two of them were in Umno and the cabinet, when Dr Mahathir was PM and he was DPM.

 



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