Respond to RPK – Sex video as reason to review PM succession
So if at the heart of this gay sex video is the question of political succession, then Dr Mahathir has the moral responsibility to review any handover arrangements made prior to this scandal breaking out.
Max Lim Chia Jen
Dear Raja Petra,
I refer to your comment about PM Dr Mahathir now being unable to retire due to PKR’s internal squabbles between its president Anwar Ibrahim and deputy, Azmin Ali ( https://www.malaysia-today.
At the heart of this division between the PKR president and his deputy, is a more pertinent question: who will take over the premiership when the 94-year-old Dr Mahathir calls it a day.
From the day when the gay sex video implicating Azmin first surfaced, the overarching theme has always been about succession. Questions about the identity of the person in the video; who the conspirators are and the arrest of Anwar’s aide are merely sideshows.
In a pact made before last year’s watershed election, Dr Mahathir was to hand over the country’s reins to Anwar. But as Azmin’s influence grow and Dr Mahathir keeping close to his chest the handover time frame, anxiety among Anwar’s supporters within and outside PKR starts to set in.
Long story short, the gay sex video is to torpedo Azmin’s chance of him taking over as the country’s eighth PM, by those anxious about his meteoric rise, whether from within his own party or otherwise.
So if at the heart of this gay sex video is the question of political succession, then Dr Mahathir has the moral responsibility to review any handover arrangements made prior to this scandal breaking out.
Will Dr Mahathir be handing over the leadership mantle to someone who has the patience and tenacity or someone who resorts to political blackmail ala-KGB, or better known as kompromat.
Does a nation want to be held ransom by individuals or groups over something as important as the candidate for our next Prime Minister?
While Dr Mahathir is right to uphold the non-interference policy with regards to the internal squabbles of a fellow component party in PH, he has every right to govern the nation the way he thinks best. And this includes weeding out those unfit to be the next PM.
Whatever arrangements made prior to last year’s election is not cast in stone. What is cast in stone in a vibrant democracy is putting the interests of the people over individual political leaders.
