Video of Tun Mahathir's gaffe announcing Pakatan Harapan's new leadership line-up goes viral

Video of Tun M's gaffe announcing Pakatan Harapan's new leadership line-up goes viral

SOO WERN JUN and NOR AIN MOHAMED RADHI
New Straits TimesJuly 15, 2017






KUALA LUMPUR: Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad on Thursday committed a gaffe by mistakenly calling Parti Amanah Negara (PAN) Mohamad Sabu the Umno president.

The incident took place during a press conference that was held after a five-hour long Pakatan Harapan presidential council meeting at PKR’s headquarters on Thursday evening.

Video clips of Dr Mahathir’s apparent slip of the tongue have since gone viral after they were shared by several news portals and on social media.

Dr Mahathir was announcing the new Pakatan Harapan leadership line-up when he mistakenly mentioned Mohamad’s position as the president of Umno instead of PAN.

In the video clip he said: “It will be signed by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as the chairman of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM), Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail PKR president, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin PPBM president, Tan Kok Wai as acting DAP chairman and Mohamad Sabu, Umno president.”

Following the blunder, Dr Mahathir was tapped on his elbow by Dr Wan Azizah, who was seated on his left.

Dr Mahathir’s immediate reaction after realising his error caused the room to burst out in laughter.

He had earlier unveiled the new Pakatan Harapan line-up, naming himself as the pact’s chairman and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as the de facto leader. Dr Wan Azizah was appointed as its president.

Its deputy presidents are PPBM president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and Parti Amanah Negara (PAN) president Mohamad Sabu.

The vice presidents are PKR deputy-president Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali, PPBM deputy president Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir, Sarawak DAP chief Chong Chieng Jen and PAN deputy president Salahuddin Ayub.

Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah was appointed Pakatan Harapan chief secretary while DAP vice-president M. Kula Segaran was named treasurer.