(April 17): Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Kelantan prince Tan Sri Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and jailed opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim should work together to save the country, a former minister wrote on his blog today.

Datuk Zaid Ibrahim said that the grouping would also ensure the quick disposal of Datuk Seri Najib Razak's government because the parliamentary opposition combined with Barisan Nasional would be enough to unseat the prime minister.

Zaid said for this to happen, Dr Mahathir would have to abandon his dislike for Anwar, given that it was personal in nature and as such should not impair Anwar’s ability to govern the country.

"Anwar has been convicted and is serving his time. That’s enough punishment for what is essentially a moral offence," he wrote.

He added that Dr Mahathir would know that Anwar has a lot to offer the country, otherwise he would not have groomed him as his successor all those years ago.

Zaid said Anwar’s faults were nothing compared with Najib’s wide-ranging failure to govern the country.

Mentioning an alleged meeting that took place last month between Dr Mahathir and Selangor Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali in London, Zaid wondered if it was a prelude of what was to come.

"Was that the prelude to some kind of 'mother of all meetings' between Dr Mahathir and Anwar?

"Everyone is now waiting for it to happen. After all, those two personalities shaped Malaysian politics over the past 30 years," he wrote.

Urging Anwar and Dr Mahathir to forgive and forget, Zaid said the former prime minister was wrong to accuse his former deputy of deliberately trying to wreck the country for the benefit of the United States.

He also said that Anwar should stop describing his condition as the result of a 20-year “political conspiracy” by Dr Mahathir and others to deprive him of political power.

Anwar, added Zaid, must open a new chapter and move the country forward.

"He must come up with a new plan to overcome systemic corruption, improve and depoliticise the civil service, abolish the Sedition Act and yet maintain public order.

"He needs a new economic plan to save the country and government agencies and he should leave conspiracies out of the discussion now and forever," Zaid wrote.

He said with their tag-team conceived in 1989, Anwar and Dr Mahathir had an opportunity to make it a success with Razaleigh as a possible interim prime minister for three years until the next general election.

"Then Anwar can take over with his new plans for the country.

"If those plans include the so-called Crooked Bridge, why not?

"It’s not a bad idea to remind Singapore once in a while that we are able to decide what we want for ourselves," Zaid said.

He added that Dr Mahathir, meanwhile, will be assured that there will be no more 1MDB-type ventures that BR1M will be scrapped and that billions of ringgit will be used for proper economic policies.

"Dr Mahathir can be assured that Anwar will be very pro-Islam but Malaysians will have their rights protected, and I am sure Anwar will have no difficulty scrapping the Sedition Act and other laws that are unnecessary for our well-being.

"If you like my proposal, go tell Dr Mahathir, Anwar and Siti Nurhaliza.

"Then let’s march together on 1 May and show Najib the way out – peacefully, of course," said Zaid. – The Malaysian Insider