Responding to the Reuters' article

（FB post on 7th March）

This is a story plot that comes close and is consistent to my long term political observation. There are quite a few points to take home.

1) PPBM and Mahathir never want Anwar to success the PMship, but Mahathir often only paid lip service that he would pass the batton. This is uniamously and consistently confirmed by 'a dozen' of people Reuters interviewed.

2) PPBM wants to be the anchor party in Pakatan Harapan. That means their Malay nationalism agenda would have to dominate over the multi-ethnic partner parties such as PKR and DAP. That suggests why the Pakatan Manifesto could be incoherent at the first place (though still consist many good reform promises),and why Mahathir said that the Manifesto served only as a 'guideline' but in fact many of the items not to his/his party's liking, he either delayed, stalled or U-turned the promises. In my own judgment, too few reform agendas being successfully implemented, almost no institutional reforms were realised. (that's why we are still stuck with the old system).

3) After the decline in Malay support for the PH coalition and a series of by-election defeats, that halted the momentum/progress of UMNO mass defection to PPBM. That failed the original plan for making PPBM the most dominant party in PH in terms of seat number. Then, Mahathir knowingly permits the planning by Muhyiddin and Azmin to approach the other side for the ruling coalition realignment. And their plan is to abandon Anwar's faction in PKR and DAP (and most likely Amanah too, as they are closely affiliated with DAP and Anwar). So the so-called 'coup', Mahathir cannot run away from his responsibility... even his 'favourite political son' Syed Saddiq appeared in Sheraton that night.

4) If he were truly with PH's interest in his mind and wanted to defend and preserve the PH govt, he should not have resigned from the PMship. We can safely presume that he knows the consequences of his resignation that led to the fall of PH government while the other side was yet to appear having the majority. Even later he sounded as he was betrayed by Muhyiddin and Azmin, he could have just quited his Bersatu post and declared that he were still with PH.

5) The comeback of Mahathir to the PH fold at last minute, and now he is still seen as a PH leader, these facts still intrigued me. Would he still want to carry on with the PH Manifesto even if he could get back the PH govt under his leadership? will he still agree to the transition plan to Anwar? If these were true and honest that he would agree, why would he want to let all these 'realignment' effort initiated long ago under his watch since last year? this makes no logical sense to me that he should still remain with PH, the only explanation is that he was outplayed by Muhyiddin and he wanted to get back to the power seat by all means. Yet, still he has face to tell the media that Anwar 'gila-gila pun nak jadi PM' .

Responding to the Reuters' article: Malaysian machinations: How Southeast Asia's veteran leader lost the plot