PETALING JAYA: A move by Perikatan Nasional to make Dr Mahathir Mohamad an unofficial adviser to a grouping of opposition-led states is aimed at projecting him as the coalition’s de facto leader, a former federal minister said.
Salleh Said Keruak claimed this was why PN chairman Muhyiddin Yassin was not invited to a meeting between Mahathir and several leaders from PAS earlier this month.
“It is a brilliant move to put him (Mahathir) at the political forefront again,” said Salleh in a Facebook post.
At the 15th general election last year, Mahathir suffered an unexpected political setback by losing his Langkawi seat to PN’s Suhaimi Abdullah.
Salleh believes Muhyiddin has “limited options” and will have to go along with “whatever decision” made by PAS regarding the role Mahathir will play in the coalition moving forward.
Last night, Terengganu menteri besar Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar said a grouping of PN-led states known as “state government four”, or “SG4”, was in the works.
He said state government leaders from Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah and Perlis had agreed in principle to work together, with Mahathir as its unofficial adviser focusing primarily on effective and efficient governance.
“Mahathir’s role is also to connect the four states with investors from countries like Japan and South Korea that have good ties with him,” the PAS vice-president added.
On Sept 2, Mahathir had met with a top-level PAS delegation, including the menteris besar of the four states.
Present at the 90-minute meeting were PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, menteris besar Shukri Ramli (Perlis), Sanusi Nor (Kedah), Nassuruddin Daud (Kelantan) and Samsuri, as well as the party’s secretary-general, Takiyuddin Hassan.
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