Amanah: Dr M can help Pakatan reach quarters it can’t

(Free Malaysia Today) – Dr Mahathir Mohamad can help Pakatan Harapan (PH) reach out to certain quarters of society that the Opposition coalition cannot, Khalid Samad of Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) has said.

Khalid, who is also MP for Shah Alam explained that the former prime minister could attract the segment of people that did not believe in or listen to the likes of Rafizi Ramli of PKR or Tony Pua and Lim Kit Siang of DAP.

“They say we are all troublemakers.

“But when Mahathir says it (criticises the government), that’s when we get to reach this sector and that is our objective. That’s why we are with Mahathir. We see that it is something that will contribute to societal reforms,” he told reporters at parliament lobby today.

Mahathir and the Opposition, along with civil society groups and NGOs banded together last week to sign a Citizens’ Declaration demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Najib Razak from office.

On allegations that Mahathir was being used by the Opposition and vice-versa, Khalid said such a view depended on the angle one chose to look at the situation from.

From PH’s perspective, he stressed, it wanted to educate the people that if they were not careful, those in power would continue to abuse their powers.

When asked about allegations of a split among the Declaration’s 58 signatories, in particular the Opposition’s insistence to include the release of their former leader Anwar Ibrahim from prison as part of the document, Khalid said a crack would only appear if they disagreed on its contents.

“Our agenda goes beyond what was listed in the Declaration, but we are not opposed to anything that is already in there. So it’s wrong to say that there are cracks in the alliance.”

The Amanah communications director however did concede Mahathir was the root of all the problems Malaysia faced today, including the over-indulgence in cronyism that he claimed was still prevalent in Umno and throughout Najib’s administration.

“But today he is no longer the Prime Minister and we are not interested in fighting pensioners.

“We are interested in fighting the one in power,” he said, adding that the issue of forgiving Mahathir for his alleged wrongdoings in the past, had never arisen.