Return to BN, Dr M asks Kedah voters

Dr M supporting his son Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir as he registered as the BN man for the Ayer Hitam state seat. — file pic

ALOR SETAR, April 20 — Unlike Election 2008, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is now on the campaign trail for the Barisan Nasional (BN) and is using his considerable influence to coax Kedah voters to return the state to the ruling coalition in the May 5 polls.

His public spat with successor Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi before the March 2008 general elections saw the country’s longest-serving prime minister quit Umno yet still supporting his son Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir but not the BN.

He did the same yesterday, accompanying Mukhriz who registered as BN man for the Ayer Hitam state seat and later campaigned in his home state that went to PAS in Election 2008.

“Ladies and gentlemen, in the last election we voted the opposition not that for them to form a government but to give them a chance.

“We wanted to give them a chance to see what they could do, but unfortunately we did not see anything they have done,” Dr Mahathir told a 300-strong crowd at a BN rally in Mergong here.

The resulting political tsunami that happened in 2008 was a result of voters wanting something new, he said, adding that the Kedah PAS government only managed to continue what the previous BN government had done.

The veteran leader did not blame Kedahans for desiring change in 2008, but he hoped that the mistake will not be repeated.

“We’re not ashamed of giving the people choice, but now they can compare.

“Maybe the people think that Pakatan Rakyat (PR) is better, but from what we have seen there was nothing good. Enough is enough, return to us,” said Dr Mahathir, who returned to Umno after Abdullah stepped down as party president in 2009.

Of all 12 elections, the last was the worst in BN’s history. That’s what happens when I stop, that’s why I have returned. — Dr M

He also expressed his disbelief that he was still giving political speeches at the ripe old age of 87, but admitted that he has no choice in order to save the party that he had headed for 22 years previously.

“Of all 12 elections, the last was the worst in BN’s history. That’s what happens when I stop, that’s why I have returned,” he said.According to Dr Mahathir, Kedah can be developed to be on par with Selangor but only if BN manages to wrest the state back from PAS.

BN won 14 of the 36 state seats, while Pakatan Rakyat (PR) won 22 state seats, with PAS sweeping 16 seats in Kedah in Election 2008.

BN only won four of the 15 parliamentary seats in Kedah in the historic 2008 election that saw the ruling coalition lose its customary two-thirds parliamentary majority.