Anwar Ibrahim, not Mahathir Mohamad, is most likely to lead the country if or when the Pakatan Harapan opposition coalition returns to power.
This bold proclamation was made by former Deputy Prime Minister Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, wife of Anwar, during a Bloomberg television interview with Haslinda Amin.
The Pakatan Harapan alliance will hold a meeting to decide the matter of a new leader, it was revealed.
"I will have a meeting, and I think most probably it’s going to be Anwar," said Wan Azizah.
Anwar has waited in the wings for nearly two years for Mahathir to step down and fulfill a promise to name him prime minister as promised before the 2018 election.
The feud over succession helped bring down the PH government last month.
Given the recent turn of events, Wan Azizah said PH will be ready for any circumstances, including the possibility of facing snap elections.
No high hopes for new government
Wan Azizah said she does not have high hopes for the new Perikatan Nasional government led by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.
"We’ll have to wait and see how things will unfold," she said.
"Because everything looks to be so uncertain, so insecure, so fragile."
She said the delay in reconvening parliament only in May shows that "the new cabinet and new government has not much support yet", as they try to gather allies.
She said: "Well, because of the delay in the parliamentary session, this shows their uncertainty."
Difficult to accept back those who left
Asked if she would be open to receiving those who had defected from PH, she said: "Betrayal is quite difficult to accept in any circumstances. Betrayal is still betrayal."
People wanted more from PH
Wan Azizah also said in the interview her coalition’s downfall was due to people who "feel they didn’t have enough".
"They felt probably they wanted more. And that I think brought us down," she added.
Succession difficulty
Mahathir had indicated on several occasions that he would fulfill a promise to step down and make way for Anwar by November 2020.
Anwar's supporters have pushed for a May deadline or two years since the last 14th general elections.
A faction within Parti Keadilan Rakyat, led by its former deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali, went against the idea of a power handover.
Azmin eventually left and backed the new Perikatan Nasional pact.
This cratered PH politically.
PH had indicated that their lawmakers would challenge Muhyiddin's appointment in parliament through a vote of no confidence.