Dr M explains why he's not playing with his grandkids

Former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad has explained the reason he is not doing the things expected of a nonagenarian.

This was after Tourism Minister Nazri Abdul Aziz earlier today said Mahathir and DAP leader Lim Kit Siang should just play with their grandchildren.

"Some people seem to be annoyed that a 90-plus man is not doing the natural thing for people of the age 90 ie rest, play with grandchildren and prepare for the next world.

"Yes, I am not doing the right thing for a 90-year-old. It is not always my choice.

"I am responding to the appeals by numerous groups of Malaysian people for me to do 'something'," Mahathir said in a blog posting.

Felt compelled

He said when Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak came to power, there were complaints from various groups who were displeased with either his economic policies, 1Malaysia slogan, foreign policy or even the phasing out of the New Economic Policy.

Mahathir said he conveyed these concerns to Najib but to no avail. Then came the 1MDB scandal.

"By then, I felt that something must be done to stop Najib. The country was losing lots of money.

"I informed Najib I could not support him any longer. Then I decided to resign from Umno.

"Now it is no longer about people urging me to do something. Now I feel a need to stop Najib from further damaging the country," he added.

The former premier claimed the rule of law had been nullified by Najib and the country's institutions rendered incapable of keeping him in check.

Selling of assets

Despite the accusations of corruption over the 1MDB scandal, Mahathir said Najib was undeterred and planned to take out more multi-billion ringgit loans for the East Coast Railway, KL-Singapore High Speed Train and Pan-Borneo Highway.

Mahathir claimed the country cannot afford these debts and will either go bankrupt or is forced to sell its assets, which he said is already happening such as the sales of the Tun Razak Exchange, Bandar Malaysia and Edra Energy.

"With all these things happening, it is hard for a 90-year-old citizen just to sit still and play with grandchildren.

"Yes, I am preparing for the akhirat (afterlife) but Allah be praised, I still have time on my hands to do other things.

"And the other things I can do is to lend some ideas on preventing the damages that is being done to the country by Najib," he said.

Najib has denied abusing public funds for personal gain, and blamed such allegations on Mahathir and those conspiring to topple him from power.

Attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali has also cleared the prime minister of any wrongdoing.- Mkini