CAMERON POLLS | Umno secretary-general Annuar Musa has alleged that Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad harbours hope that BN will emerge victorious in the Cameron Highlands by-election.

Speaking at a ceramah in Kampung Beletik on Sunday, Annuar alleged that this is because of the way Mahathir is being treated by DAP.

"When Mahathir called on Umno leaders to dissolve the party and join his party (Bersatu), he said he was trapped and could no longer deal with what DAP was doing to him.

"Therefore, I can safely say that deep in his heart, Mahathir wants the BN candidate to win in Cameron Highlands," he was reported as saying by Umno Online.

Elaborating, Annuar said Mahathir's hands were tied because Bersatu is the smaller partner in Pakatan Harapan.

"Mahathir doesn't want Lim Guan Eng to be finance minister. (When they were negotiating, they went) 'Ok, you want to be prime minister? Ok! PKR wants to be deputy (prime minister)? Ok!

"However, (DAP) chose the most powerful position. One more powerful than the prime minister. According to the hierarchy, the finance minister is more powerful than the prime minister.

"In the 23 years that Mahathir was prime minister, he had never used government funds for Chinese private schools, which does not follow the national curriculum.

"Funding for Chinese private schools... is illegitimate because it is government money, but the finance minister prevailed," he said.

Lim had allocated RM12 million in funds meant for the refurbishment of Chinese private schools. There was an additional RM6 million allocated in December for three private colleges.

The minister had defended the move, pointing out that the BN government had previously funded private institutions before, such as Tunku Abdul Rahman College.

The two main contenders of the Cameron Highlands by-election are BN's Ramli Mohd Nor and Harapan's M Manogaran.

Ramli is not a member of any political party while Manogaran is a DAP member.