No more tears for you, farewell Mahathir: portal

A portal which has launched a series of acerbic offensives against former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad takes another swipe at the former premier. This time over his decision to quit Umno - for the second time.

In an editorial published about an hour after the announcement, MyKMU.net accused Mahathir of duping those in Umno for more than two decades with his mantra that the party is more important than leaders.

The portal claimed that Mahathir had preached this mantra with the purpose of remaining in power and not because in the interest of race, religion and the nation.

"There are no more Umno tears for you Mahathir. Your contributions will be remembered and engraved in history on the rise of this nation.

"But it appears that history will also repeat itself where a large number of Umno leaders died outside of Umno such as Onn Jaafar, Tunku Abdul Rahman and Hussein Onn.

"Perhaps Tun (Mahathir) will continue this tradition and fate. Goodbye, Mahathir," it said.

Onn Jaffar, who was founding member of Umno and the party's first president, quit Umno in 1951 to unsuccessfully set up a multiracial party.

Later both Abdul Rahman and Hussein Onn resigned from the party after Umno split into two - Mahathir's Umno Baru and Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah's Semangat 46.

After the attempts by the two former leaders to form Umno Malaysia failed - whose registration was quashed by Mahathir - the duo backed Razaleigh.

MyKMU, which has been a staunch defender of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, said Mahathir's decision was not surprising.

"Whenever Umno is divided or when Mahathir sidelines any leader including (his former deputies) Musa Hitam and Anwar Ibrahim, he would repeat the mantra that the party is more important than its leaders.

"(He would say) leaders come and go but the party remains to protect the interest of Islam, Malays and Malaysia.

"But in the last 10 years, Mahathir has told us twice that leaders are more important than the party. When he rejected Pak Lah (Abdullah Ahmad Badawi), he left Umno.

"Now when he doesn't like (Prime Minister) Najib (Abdul Razak), he once again announces his decision to quit Umno," it stated.

The portal argued that if Mahathir believed in his own mantra that Umno is more important than its leaders, he would not leave the party.

Mahathir, it added, had attacked Najib and called for his resignation not because in the interest of religion, race or nation but because of a personal power struggle. -Mkini