DR MAHATHIR MAKES HIS ATTACKS PERSONAL

Salleh Said Keruak

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad intensified his attacks on both ex-Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak in Ipoh yesterday. Much of his attacks, however, was very personal in nature and even touched on Pak Lah’s medical condition, the sleep apnoea that he is suffering from.

Dr Mahathir also admitted that he had forced Pak Lah to take Najib as his deputy and later forced Pak Lah to resign to make way for Najib. Now Dr Mahathir wants Najib to resign to make way for Muhyiddin Yassin.

By Dr Mahathir’s own admission he wants to be the one to decide who rules Malaysia after him. What he did not confirm yesterday, though, is once Muhyiddin takes over from Najib who will Dr Mahathir want as the new Deputy Prime Minister?

Whoever it may be, what Dr Mahathir wants is that the Prime Minister has to be someone of his choosing, handpicked by him, and someone who will listen to his instructions.

Yesterday’s gathering was very boisterous and noisy with the crowd jeering and heckling and many people shouting in the background. This is not the type of gathering we would expect a statesman like Dr Mahathir to organise. It sounded like a ceramah that the opposition parties normally organise in the kampung and was quite embarrassing to witness.

Dr Mahathir also called Najib a penipu — which could mean liar, fraud or cheat — and today many opposition blogs and websites are repeating this ‘Najib penipu’ mantra. Even though we may want to criticise the leadership we need to do it with some dignity because lack of dignity reflects on the person criticising.

Meanwhile, the DAP Member of Parliament for Petaling Jaya Utara, Tony Pua Kiam Wee, has applied to strike out a defamation suit against him by the Prime Minister pertaining to 1MDB. 

This is a very strange move considering that Tony Pua has challenged the 1MDB board of directors to sue him. But when they do sue him he applies to have the suit set aside. Is this yet another of the many wayang that these opposition leaders are playing?