PUTRAJAYA — Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad ended on Thursday (Aug 29) any speculation of adding Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim into the Cabinet in the near future.

He said this is simply due to the fact that there are no vacancies in the Cabinet at the moment.

“We are not having any change or increase in the number of members in the Cabinet since nobody has indicated that they want to resign, so we have no vacancy.

“Whenever we have a vacancy, we will consider suitable candidates,” he said during a press conference at the Perdana Leadership Foundation in Putrajaya.

Dr Mahathir was asked why Mr Anwar was not yet given a role in the Cabinet, given the imminent transition that will see Dr Mahathir hand over his prime ministerial duties to the PKR president.

Last week, Dr Mahathir had confirmed that the Cabinet did discuss possible changes in several ministers’ portfolios during its weekly meeting, but no reshuffle is imminent.

It was previously rumoured that Jeli MP and former Umno minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed will be appointed into the Cabinet.

During the run up to 14th general election, Pakatan Harapan had said that Anwar would be made the 8th Prime Minister, taking over Dr Mahathir after a period of two years.

This has since been up in question with Dr Mahathir only saying the promise of him eventually stepping down would be fulfilled, but has yet to set a date for it.

Earlier this month, Dr Mahathir reiterated that he will keep his promise to step aside for Anwar, claiming the only way he would renege were if someone “put a gun” to his head. MALAY MAIL