Tag: Rafizi Ramli

This leads to an interesting question that has been the subject of much speculation in the Kuala Lumpur political class for the past few months: How will DSAI and incumbent Mahathir Mohamad co-exist in parliament? The Port Dickson by-election will be held merely five months after the recent general election. With Anwar back in parliament in October, some said it sure looks like the Anwar political dynasty is up and running. Part of the fear comes from their belief that Anwar will be a political liability among the rural Malay voters in the next general election. If PH does not keep the rural Malay vote, there is a real possibility that PH may be a one-term government. Rafizi Ramli, running for PKR’s deputy presidency post, openly claimed that he was running for the position to help Anwar clinch the pinnacle position of PM, and that if he loses the deputy presidency’s post to Azmin Ali, Minister for Economic Affairs and former Selangor chief minister, Anwar may not succeed Mahathir as PM - as Mahathir is said to be secretly backing Azmin to derail Anwar’s plans. Mahathir’s party, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), only has 13 MPs. There is every reason to think that more UMNO MPs and state assemblymen will leave UMNO in the coming months. He cannot join the Cabinet unless his wife agrees to give up the seat of deputy PM to him. Under Malaysia’s political system, if anything happens to Mahathir, the incumbent Deputy PM takes over automatically.