The Nikkei Asian Review yesterday reported her as saying that Mahathir, who is chairman of PH and PPBM, would stick to the opposition’s promises to make Malaysia more democratic.
She said this was despite the 92-year-old’s reputation as an autocrat during the time he was prime minister for 22 years till 2003.
“Mahathir has made a pledge to the leaders (of PH parties) to implement our reform agenda if he takes office,” Nurul Izzah, the eldest daughter of PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim, was quoted as saying.
Mahathir was announced as PH’s candidate for prime minister should the coalition wrest Putrajaya from Barisan Nasional (BN) in the 14th general election (GE14) during PH’s annual convention on Jan 7.
The convention was also told of PH’s political reform proposals, which included reform of Parliament to ensure its independence, a limit on the term of the prime minister and measures to ensure that persons appointed to top public positions are answerable to Parliament.
The next day, DAP’s Sangeet Kaur Deo, daughter of the late Karpal Singh, the party’s former chairman, said opting for Mahathir to helm the country would introduce the “rebirth of Mahathirism”.
Disagreeing with the move, she said the fact that the opposition had “no one else” to choose to be prime minister showed its lack of long-term strategy.
“The focus should always be on policies and principles (not personalities) and leaders must be groomed to ensure continuity.”
Nurul Izzah had responded by saying that Sangeet’s concern was valid and Mahathir needed to hear it.
“We have lived under a dictatorship by virtue of the system for so long that it’s important to appreciate concerns and fears,” she said.
She said it was because of such concerns that PKR took its time to reach a consensus on whether to back PH’s choice of Mahathir.
Political activist Haris Ibrahim had also warned last year that the reform agenda of the opposition may be set back if it made Mahathir prime minister again.
If we don’t have a reformist at the helm, and instead have someone who still cannot acknowledge that his 22 years’ in office inflicted great damage on our institutions, then we won’t have those reforms,” he had said.
Haris said Mahathir’s refusal to take responsibility for the alleged crippling of the judiciary was a clear indication that he was not a reformist.
On Oct 31 last year, Mahathir had announced PH’s anti-corruption manifesto, which included a pledge to make the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) answerable to Parliament and not to the prime minister.
He had said a PH government would also do away with direct negotiation practices for all government contracts and procurement as well as amend laws to ensure transparency for government deals.