FORMER prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad today said he was approached by Perikatan Nasional members who wished for him to lead the coalition.

He said he declined the overtures because he could not join forces with Umno leaders who were facing charges in court.

“They tried to persuade me, but I told them, there were conditions,” he told Astro Awani in an interview published today.

He did not say what the conditions were.

Dr Mahathir also said he would work with his successor Muhyiddin Yassin, with whom he fell out in February, subject to the same terms. 

“There are certain conditions for me to work (with Muhyiddin).”

Dr Mahathir has filed to move a motion of no-confidence in the prime minister but the motion is unlikely to see the light of day.

The Dewan Rakyat speaker has said the Pejuang chairman’s motion, as well as those of two dozen opposition MPs, would not be entertained as the house was focused on “government business”.

Meanwhile, Dr Mahathir said Umno elder Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah had also spoken to him about forming a unity government to replace Muhyiddin’s.

Dr Mahathir said the Gua Musang MP had tried to convince the members of parliament to work with him to oust Perikatan Nasional.

“He had this idea of wanting to change the government,” said Dr Mahathir.

“He was of the opinion that he could coax individuals linked to the ruling administration to leave the government. But it never happened.”

Mahathir said he was prepared to work with the person who had majority support.

Rumours had recently linked him with Tengku Razaleigh after a picture of the two of them in a meeting went viral. It was said that the pair were conspiring to thwart opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who had laid claim to the prime minister’s office because he had secured the numbers in parliament.

Anwar has yet to prove his claims.

Dr Mahathir had initially suggested forming a unity government to take the country out of the political crisis in which it has been mired since Pakatan Harapan was overthrown in Feburary by defectors working with the opposition. – November 25, 2020.