PETALING JAYA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) president Anwar Ibrahim could have been appointed as Malaysia's prime minister had he decided to accept Umno leaders who are facing graft charges, said Setiawangsa PKR MP Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad.

However, Mr Anwar decided against the idea as he refused to betray the people's mandate just for the premiership, said Mr Nik Nazmi.

"Anwar told us that he could have been the PM with the condition that he abandoned our Pakatan Harapan allies and accept leaders in Umno facing numerous corruption charges.

"But he refused to betray the mandate of the people simply for the sake of obtaining the premiership," said Mr Nik Nazmi in an Instagram post on Tuesday (March 3).

Acknowledging that the political turmoil last week was "unfortunate", Mr Nik Nazmi said it nevertheless exposed leaders "who are truly loyal and who betrayed the people's mandate".

"Good riddance to bad rubbish. The people will not forget," he added.

The political crisis which erupted last week saw the demise of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government and the appointment of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as Prime Minister.

It also saw the exit of 11 PKR MPs and 26 Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia MPs from PH and the emergence of the Perikatan Nasional coalition of Bersatu, PAS and Barisan Nasional as the ruling coalition.