Dr M: Opposition is maturing

The former prime minister said he would not have imagined Pakatan Rakyat allies DAP and PAS would ever act sensibly, but in the case of the 505 rallies, they have.

KUALA LUMPUR: Former prime minister  Dr Mahathir Mohamad today praised the Opposition coalition for “maturing” and behaving more “sensible”, adding that this bodes well for the country’s future.

He was referring to the fact that Pakatan Rakyat allies DAP and PAS had refused to take part in the Black 505 rallies protesting alleged fraud during the May 5 elections.

But, both PAS and DAP have taken part in the rallies and some of them were the main speakers.

The series of nation-wide rallies, organized by PKR, will culminate this Saturday at Padang Merbok.

“Only one party is demonstrating, the other two are sensible. I couldn’t believe they could ever be sensible, but they actually are,” said Dr Mahathir in his speech at the Perdana Foundation Leadership CEO Forum 2013.

“They told that party (PKR) they are not going to have this 505 rally. So we are maturing, even the opposition are maturing,” he said.

He stressed that the opposition had every right to accuse the government of electoral fraud, but they should not resort to “disrupting the country”.

“Street demonstrations are not very productive. If we are more mature, and we can accept that… this country would have a better future.

“But we are going towards there, because this time around, even though the opposition is accusing the government of fraud, we have found they are broken up over this issue.”

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