Azmin wants Harapan to back Dr M, Wong Chen says PM must accept blame

Acknowledging the results of the Tanjung Piai by-election as a resounding wake-up call by the rakyat to Pakatan Harapan, PKR deputy president Azmin Ali has nonetheless called on the coalition members to rally behind the leadership of Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

"This is not the time for members and leaders of Pakatan Harapan to take
potshots at one another or take advantage of the situation to challenge the coalition’s leadership.

"Any attacks on the leadership will only continue to weaken Harapan and its effectiveness in governing the country. This is the time to unite our strengths and face this new reality together," Azmin (above) said in a statement today.

This was in response to the victory by MCA's Wee Jeck Seng, who wrested the Tanjung Piai parliamentary seat from Harapan with a whopping 15,086-vote majority.

"I urge every member and leader of Harapan to continue to give
our undivided support to Mahathir, Prime Minister of Malaysia
and chairperson of Pakatan Harapan, to continue to lead the country and the coalition," said Azmin, who is also Economic Affairs Minister.

Despite being in PKR, Azmin is now seen close to Mahathir than to the prime minister's designated successor and PKR president Anwar Ibrahim.

Azmin went on to say that the coalition must show to the people that it remains committed to its mandate and will continue to fight for the rakyat’s interests so that their confidence in the coalition can be restored.

"Lessons in defeat are more enduring than those in victory. Let us overcome this defeat with humility and embrace a new resolve to further strengthen the coalition," he said.

However, Azmin's party colleague and Subang MP Wong Chen (below) was far less generous in his assessment of Mahathir's leadership, saying that the prime minister needed to come up with a new game plan.

"While you can blame the performance of some ministers, you can also blame some non-cooperative civil servants but as in all organisations, the CEO is mostly responsible. So the big chunk of the blame has to still land on Mahathir's lap," Wong Chen said in a Facebook post last night.

"In my humble opinion, the prime minister must realise that he needs a new game plan soon. On that front, he should consider fully embracing reforms or risk leading us to more defeats."

Wong Chen said it was frustrating that after 18 months of rule by the Harapan government, there have been no systemic reforms of Parliament, nor a reduction of the prime minister's excessive powers.

He said the lack of a timeline for a handover by Mahathir to Anwar was hurting the economy.

"Investors have money and intentions to invest but are holding back since there is no clear succession timeline," he wrote.

"There are also no concrete steps to address the relatively high cost of living, monopolies, oligarchs, and APs for 5,000 consumer items continue to exist.

"Minimum wages are moving, but very slowly, while mega projects are ironically moving fast," he added.

Wong Chen went on to say that he was most worried by the fact that, of late, Malaysia has been gripped and distracted by racial issues and tensions.

"There seems to be very little middle ground for moderation and common sense.

"Every day we get more political headaches, with no real plans about how to solve economic problems," he said.