I WILL be the next prime minister after Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Anwar Ibrahim reiterated at a gathering of former Youth chiefs in Kuala Lumpur tonight.

“Today, it’s Dr Mahathir; after that, it will be Anwar,” the PKR president told some 200 former Angkatan Muda Keadilan leaders.

“There’s no need to speculate on this as the Pakatan Harapan promise will be fulfilled.”

Anwar was referring to a gentleman’s agreement in Pakatan that Anwar would replace Dr Mahathir as the next prime minister. It also formed part of Pakatan’s campaign during the general election last year.

The PKR president said that if he wanted to push to be prime minister, he would have done so in 1998 or 2000.

“But I was not prepared to as corruption was rife in Umno,” Anwar said, referring to his former party.

Dr Mahathir, meanwhile, should be given the space to govern as he sees fit, said Anwar.

“We support Dr Mahathir because he is committed to the reforms (we fought for),” he said.

The gathering was also to launch a new civil society body, Generasi Keadilan, aimed at ensuring the welfare of former PKR leaders.

Anwar also had some choice words about new and former Youth leaders in his party.

“You suffered for the party and PKR is where it is through your blood and tears. The new leaders haven’t suffered as much.

“But if members evaluated their leaders based on the contracts that can be fished out, then it would be no different from Umno,” said Anwar.

The 71-year-old, however, did not elaborate on who he was referring to.

The event was hosted by Deputy Primary Industries Minister Shamsul Iskandar and Penang Senator Yusmadi Yusoff.

Shamsul was recently caught in the crossfire when his former aide, Haziq Abdullah Abdul Aziz, alleged that he had had sexual relations with Economic Affairs Minister and PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali.

Shamsul has since terminated Haziq’s contract. Haziq, who had been PKR Santubong Youth chief, was also sacked from the party. – July 6, 2019.