Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today accused the opposition of twisting a metaphor he previously used, so as to portray the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) as the “devil” and incite hatred towards the government ahead of the coming polls.
The country’s longest serving prime minister today lamented that Pakatan Rakyat (PR) has never praised any of BN’s policies, even though the government had led Malaysia through the recent global economic slowdown.
“The opposition lives to create hatred against government; they forget all the good the government has done, and make people hate the government,” the former premier told a press conference at his Hari Raya open house here today.
He added despite the economic downturn worldwide, Malaysia “has done (the) best among all in terms of economic growth”.
“In a multi-racial country, we have done extremely well. Why won’t they (PR) mention that?” he asked.
“If you hate the government then you are like them (the opposition),” he added.
Dr Mahathir was today expanding on his recent blog post where he urged Malaysians to vote for the “devil” in BN they know rather than the “angels” they do not know.
“People call us the devil, but we are the devil people know,” he said.
“They are the angel we do not know. But sometimes angels can do a lot of wrong things,” he added.
Asked of the “angels” he was referring to, Dr Mahathir said, “Opposition-lah!” and prompting laughter from the crowd.
“Their idea is to hate the government, because they say after 55 years of BN rule country, it is time for change,” he said.
“But if they (PR) do not win (during the upcoming general election), they will try to continue to win by hook or by crook,” he added.
Dr Mahathir said although change is good, he stressed it must be for the better.
“If it is change for something worse, then they will regret it.”
In a blog posting on August 22, Dr Mahathir told Malaysians that they were better off with the “devil [they] know” in BN rather than a PR federal government, which he said was likely to bankrupt the nation with its populist promises.
“The BN has listened to the people and has changed many laws and policies. All that the people need to do is to urge the BN to carry out whatever change the people desire.
“Better the devil you know than the angel you don’t,” the former prime minister had written then.
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