PUTRAJAYA, March 1 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad absolved Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today of blame in triggering the political crisis that brought down the Pakatan Harapan government.

He said this in a closed-door meeting, but an attendee had broadcast parts of the event live on Facebook.

At the meeting, Dr Mahathir said he had been informed that Anwar would demand to be made deputy prime minister at the PH presidential council meeting on February 21.

When this did not occur, however, he alleged that Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin needed a crisis to occur so that he could explore cooperation with other parties.

“When he (Muhyiddin) took our party out of Bersatu, that was when the crisis happened,” Dr Mahathir said.

However, he also said Anwar’s eagerness to become prime minister contributed to the crisis then.

After Dr Mahathir resigned unexpectedly as PM, PH had continued backing him before suddenly switching to Anwar instead.

The change had prevented him from showing the Yang di-Pertuan Agong he had the clear support of the majority in Parliament.

“Anwar is a bit obsessed about becoming prime minister. But he couldn’t have done it because he didn’t have the support,” the former PM continued.

“If the people had wanted me to stay as PM, I would have. I feel I would have gotten 60 more votes to add to the 90-odd votes I already had. But because Anwar insisted on being named the candidate for PM despite knowing he won’t win, it spoiled things.”

Dr Mahathir’s candid account of events has given Malaysia some insight into the crisis that brought down his administration.

He resigned as PM two days after the aforementioned PH meeting, prompting suspicions that he was making a power grab to prevent Anwar’s ascension.

The suspicion intensified when Dr Mahathir began testing the waters for a non-partisan government that would have encompassed parties from the entire political spectrum.

After a week of political intrigue, however, Muhyiddin emerged the unexpected front-runner to be PM and was eventually sworn in this morning.

Dr Mahathir and PH continue to contest the level of Muhyiddin’s support among federal lawmakers and are planning to test this when Parliament resumes.