I was duped by Mahathir

Malaysia's Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) president Anwar Ibrahim has now realised that he was duped by Dr Mahathir Mohamad when the latter promised to pass on the country's top job to him, Sin Chew Daily reported.

In an exclusive interview with the newspaper, the Pakatan Harapan leader said he had believed that Dr Mahathir would fulfil his promise of handing over the baton to him after two years in office.

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However, Dr Mahathir kept changing the date before finally saying he would vacate the post after the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) meeting this November.

On Feb 24, he resigned as prime minister without informing Pakatan party leaders, leading to the collapse of the Pakatan-led government and voiding the succession promise.

If Mahathir did not resign, Pakatan would still be the government now, he said, adding that all internal issues could have been dealt with.

Anwar denied that Mahathir's resignation was due to pressure from PKR.

"Why was there pressure? Because he (Dr Mahathir) did not seem to be leaving. One year, two years, three years, election...," said Mr Anwar, who added that while he could still communicate with Dr Mahathir, he would never endorse him as prime minister again.

"Dr Mahathir is unable to garner support (to rule) from the majority of MPs," said Anwar.