SHAH ALAM - The opportunity for Malaysians to seen Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to reconcile and be on the same stage during the 15th General Election (GE15) once more is slim but not impossible.
It can be a reality if the Opposition Leader is willing to forgive and forget what the former Prime Minister did to him in the past.
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia’s Razak Faculty of Technology and Informatics Senior Lecturer Dr Mazlan Ali said it is not the first time Dr Mahathir, who is the Langkawi incumbent MP, has issued a statement of wanting to reconcile and work with Pakatan Harapan (PH) to defeat Barisan Nasional (BN) in GE15.
However, Mazlan said the extent of Dr Mahathir’s olive branch was not welcomed by both Anwar and PH as they are still unsatisfied with the Pejuang chairman’s sudden resignation thus causing the fall of the PH government on Feb 23, 2020.
"We have heard this many times, Dr Mahathir wants to make peace and reach out to cooperate with Anwar and PH again to defeat and prevent Umno from winning GE15.
"For me, it is difficult to predict whether PH can cooperate with Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA) because of the things that had happened during PH’s 22 months in power including the Dr Mahathir’s resignation that led to a change of government and a political crisis that has continued to this day. "The incident caused most PH leaders to blame Dr Mahathir and see him as someone who did not keep his promises.
"In fact, Dr Mahathir’s resignation at that time caused Anwar’s ambition to become prime minister go unfulfilled. ""It is very difficult to imagine that Anwar is willing to forgive and welcome the greeting of reconciliation extended by Dr Mahathir, even though it is not impossible to happen before this GE15," he told Sinar Premium. He was commenting on media reports about Dr Mahathir's actions that he was once again reaching out to Anwar for reconciliation ahead of GE15, next month.
In fact, Dr Mahathir insisted, he did not care about what people had to say. He was also willing to initiate the move, doing so to avoid damage to the country.
Mazlan said BN/Umno will lose if all the opposition parties including PH, PN, GTA and other parties collaborated and formed one political lineup. "If Anwar can cooperate with Dr Mahathir again, then he will pioneer a cooperation with other parties such as PH and PN, thus posing a big threat to BN/Umno.
"Previous data also shows that if the votes of PN, PH and other parties are combined, then Umno/BN will lose in the Malacca and Johor State Elections, previously," he said.