Dr M: Tough for Najib to regain two-thirds majority at 13th GE

Dr M okay with Najib, hates Badawi

Malaysia Chronicle

Former premier Mahathir Mohamad believes it will be tough for Prime Minister Najib Razak to regain the two-thirds parliamentary majority held by his Barisan Nasional since independence in 1957 until the landmark 2008 general election.

But the 85-year Mahathir blamed it on his immediate successor Abdullah Badawi, saying it was not Najib's fault that he "inherited a bad government".

Mahathir, the country's fourth prime minister, was mobbed by reporters on Monday amid swirling speculation that Najib would dissolve Parliament after the Chinese New Year and hold simultaneous national polls along with Sarawak, which has to conduct state elections by July 2011.

"Najib inherited a bad government. He is better than number five Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who was totally incompetent," Mahathir was quoted as saying by Malaysiakini.

"When you have two-thirds majority, it should be used for doing the right things. In the four years, 2004 to 2008 Abdullah did the wrong things so in 2008 he lost it."

The monster tidal wave Mahathir created

Mahathir also took a swipe at Opposition Leader Anwar Leader, the de-fact head of both the Pakatan Rakyat coalition and PKR party.

Anwar has found his own niche and party

"He is having a difficult time. Najib has some good ideas and some not so good ideas. I hope Najib does garner support because the alternative is that someone who is worse may take power," Mahathir said.

Anwar was Malaysia prime minister-in-waiting and an outstanding Finance minister before he was jailed on manifestly trumped-up sodomy and corruption charges in 1998.

Fearing that he would lose power, Mahathir sacked Anwar, imposed a 24-hour curfew and to prevent capital flight banned trading of the Ringgit and closed down the CLOB - an offshore trading platform for Malaysian shares.

Mahathir's drastic moves not only sparked huge losses among foreign investors, damaging until now their confidence in the BN government, but also split his Umno party down the line.

Recently, Najib hinted that a lot of the disunity problems he currently faced in the Malay community now could be traced back to the 1998 sacking and jailing of Anwar.