Don't pretend you were a 'blur blur' PM, Dr M told

DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang urged former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad not to pretend he was a very ‘blur blur’ prime minister with regard to all the scandals during his rule, especially the Malaysian Airlines (MAS) fiasco.

“Mahathir should not try to wriggle out of his responsibility to the nation to account for the MAS scandal,” said the MP for Ipoh Timor in a statement today.

Yesterday Mahathir dismissed former law minister Zaid Ibrahim’s call that he should write a book to reveal the truth surrounding the MAS saga.

“I’m not in charge of MAS... how can I write a book. I can make some comments, that’s all,” said the maverick politician.

Mahathir also challenge his detractors to lodge a complaint on thesettlement reached in the court cases between former MAS chairperson Tajudin Ramli and government-linked corporations (GLCs) if they can prove corruption in the deal.

His response did not go well with Lim, who said Mahathir “is trying to re-write the history of his 22 years as prime minister to make Malaysians believe that he was a very ‘blur blur’ prime minister who did not know what was going on in the various Ministries under him”.

Besides the MAS debacle, Mahathir also disclaimed responsibility for the sacking of Lord President Salleh Abas and two supreme court judges in 1988, the mass arrests using the Internal Security Act (ISA) under Operasi Lalang, and a series of financial scandals under his watch, said Lim.

‘A master of selective memory’

“Mahathir has proven during the royal commission of inquiry into the VK Lingam videotape scandal that he is a master of selective memory, but this does not qualify him to rewrite the history of his 22 years as prime minister, particularly episodes causing far-reaching bane to the healthy political, economic and social development of the country.

“What is Mahathir’s credibility when he can totally disclaim responsibility for the major scandals under his premiership, or is the MAS scandal, which has destroyed an internationally-acclaimed airline causing the country tens of billion of ringgit of losses, another heinous crime without criminals” like Mahathir’s first financial scandal in 1983 - the RM2.5 billion Bumiputra Malaysia Finance (BMF) scandal?” he queried.

Earlier on, Tajudin claimed he bought over controlling stakes in MAS for RM1.8 billion on the instructions of Mahathir and former finance minister Daim Zainuddin in 1994. Mahathir, however, denied the allegations.

In 2000, the government bought back the loss-making airline for RM8.00 per share, more than twice its market value, after Tajudin’s loans became non-performing and were taken over by then-national asset management agency Danaharta.

Lim questioned whether the alleged ‘secret deal’ between Tajudin and Mahathir was linked to the recent court settlement between Tajudin and the GLCs.

“Is it because of this secret deal... that explains the lack of transparency in the recent settlement in court between Tajudin and GLCs, casting a dark shadow on the (Prime Minister) Najib (Abdul Razak)’s premiership on accountability, good governance and integrity and sure to cause a further plunge in the country’s Transparency International Corruption Perception Index next year?”