(Aug 20): Pakatan Rakyat would be the ruling government now if it had announced Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah as its choice for prime minister ahead of the 13th general election, says Datuk Mustafa Ali.
The PAS election director said that prior to the 2013 national polls, the Islamist party suggested to its partners in now-defunct Pakatan that Tengku Razaleigh, also known as Ku Li, fill the top government post.
"I am confident that if we had announced Tengku Razaleigh as our choice for prime minister, we would have got more support from the Malays and it would have led Pakatan to victory," Mustafa told The Malaysian Insider.
"We proposed that Ku Li become prime minister for half a term and Anwar the second half. But PKR still wanted Anwar," he said, referring to de facto PKR chief Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
He said this in response to DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang's claims that PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang had rejected Anwar as the candidate for prime minister in favour of Ku Li.
Mustafa said this was not true, and that Lim was deliberately withholding the full story.
"Not once did Hadi reject Anwar as the candidate for prime minister. We just never announced the candidate because of strategy problems," he said.
Mustafa said before the 13th general election, they had received a report stating Pakatan could win Putrajaya if it received more Malay votes.
"We needed just 3 to 5% more Malay votes for Pakatan. We had enough Chinese votes. But how were we to gain more Malay votes?
"All the parties discussed this. If Ku Li had been with us, we could have got more Malay support for Pakatan," said Mustafa.
He said PAS met with DAP and PKR to discuss this issue, and the leaders of all three parties also met with Ku Li.
"Ku Li was ready to join us," said Mustafa.
Mustafa said PAS believed Ku Li and Anwar were both qualified to become prime minister.
"When we wanted to pull Ku Li in, we had to think about what we could offer him. PAS agreed that he could be prime minister for two and a half years, while Anwar could replace him for the remaining years.
"That way, both could become the prime minister throughout the term. Ku Li accepted this idea," said Mustafa.
Mustafa said he and PAS also discussed this with Lim.
"DAP said that if Anwar and Pakatan agree, DAP can accept it," he said, adding that this led to a meeting between PAS and PKR.
PAS leaders present at the meeting were Hadi, spiritual advisor Datuk Haron Din, the then deputy president Mohamad Sabu and himself, said Mustafa.
Those from PKR were Anwar, deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali, the then secretary-general Datuk Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, Datuk Johari Abdul and Dr Rahim Ghouse.
PKR secretary-general Rafizi Ramli, who had last year revealed PAS's plans to install Ku Li as prime minister, was not present at the meeting, said Mustafa.
In the meeting, Anwar said he would discuss the idea with PKR before coming to a decision.
"There were no other meetings after that. The PKR secretary-general sent a letter to PAS informing that the party decided Anwar was its choice for prime minister.
"Ku Li said nothing."
When the time came for Pakatan to announce its candidate for prime minister, PAS decided not to name anyone.
"We weren't rejecting Anwar, but our strategy at that time was to gain more Malay votes.
"But if Pakatan had won, there was no other choice but Anwar," said Mustafa. – The Malaysian Insider