WATCH OUT NAJIB: The longer Dr M delays replying to Pak Lah, the worse it is for YOU!

KUALA LUMPUR - In a manner most puzzling to political pundits, former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has continued to avoid responding to the very serious allegations made against him by his successor Abdullah Badawi that he could have bankrupted Malaysia with his grandiose mega-projects.

"Bankrupt lah... I have not read (Badawi's allegation in the book Awakening: The Abdullah Badawi Years )," Mahathir said, when surrounded by reporters on Thursday.

This is the second time that Mahathir has ducked giving a response since the book was made available to the press ahead of its official launching later this month.

'Guilty' silence?

Mahathir's silence has prompted a fresh slew of criticism against him including the possibility that Badawi may have been right and telling the truth about his former boss.

"What I know is that Mahathir left behind a very weak treasury when he retired in 2003 and Pak Lah would have gone through a very tough time balancing the books if he carried on with the projects that Mahathir favored," PKR vice president Chua Jui Meng, who was then a member of the federal Cabinet, told Malaysia Chronicle.

"People want to know who is causing the country to go bankrupt, the extent of damage that has been done and now is the time for Tun Mahathir to speak up and not keep silent. Why is he afraid when he dares to to criticize the government and the Opposition? He must also be brave enough to answer when the gun is pointed back at him," PAS vice president Mahfuz Omar was reported as saying in Harakahdaily.

'Silver' bullet

Another Opposition politician, Tian Chua believes that Mahathir's reticence is related to the upcoming Umno election, where some 150,000 party delegates are due to vote in a fresh central leadership on October 19.

Badawi's criticism of Mahathir was taken as a sign that he would back current Prime Minister Najib Razak to retain the Umno presidency.

Najib's main rivals in Umno are believed to be from the Mahathir camp, with Mahathir himself saying in private he thinks Najib should relinquish the post to another Umno colleague because he had led their Umno-BN coalition to its worst-ever performance in the recently-concluded May 5 general election.

Mahathir was prime minister from 1981 to 2003, while Badawi (also known as Pak Lah) took over in 2003 and led until 2009.

"To most people, this is uncharacteristic behavior, but it is actually quite typical of Mahathir to react like this. He is a very cool-headed and strategic person, and he  is probably up to something that aims to unseat Najib," Tian, the MP for Batu, told Malaysia Chronicle.

"Mahathir is also a very opportunistic thinker and I would not put it past him to try and turn this into a silver bullet that strikes back at his foes rather than they hitting him. Now is not the time for sarcasm and making fun of Pak Lah. What for? Mahathir won't waste time like this or be so stupid as to open new fighting fronts - just yet."

Bankrupt lah!

Awakening is a collection of 35 essays edited by Bridget Welsh and James Chin.

In the book, Badawi's most-controversial comments had related to how Mahathir had tried to hammer through mega-projects despite no longer being in power and how such a spending spree could have bankrupted Malaysia, which is already struggling with record-high national debt.

Badawi recounted how he went to see Mahathir to explain that he had to postpone several projects, including the double-tracking rail system that the latter had initiated because of the bulging budget deficit.

“He, however, disagreed with me as he felt the government should continue to spend. But how do we do it when the deficit was at such critical levels? It would be highly irresponsible for me to continue spending," said Badawi, who took over as PM from Mahathir in 2003.

“So we had no choice but to reduce the deficit by postponing some of the mega-projects like double tracking and this made Mahathir furious. I suppose he viewed them as his pet projects.

“Can you imagine, if I had succumbed to Mahathir’s continued pressure to spend when the deficit was already so high, how could Malaysia have weathered the oil and financial crisis which subsequently came in 2008?

“The deficit which we brought down to 3.2 percent crept up again due to subsidies for oil and essentials and hovered again at the 5 percent level. If we had not been prudent then, continued to spend, I can tell you we would be bankrupt by now."

Malaysia Chronicle