Dr M clueless if 'millions' paid to meet US president

Dr Mahathir Mohamad has responded to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's allegation that millions were forked out to arrange a meeting between the former premier and then United States president George W Bush.

In a blog post this morning, however, Mahathir focused on his meeting with Bush's predecessor Ronald Reagan in 1984 and compared this to Najib's visit to the White House last week.

Soon after touching down at KLIA, Najib opened fire on Mahathir, claiming the latter paid lobbyists millions in Tenaga Nasional contracts to arrange a meeting with Bush at the White House.

The prime minister said Mahathir had put the late home minister Megat Junid Megat Ayub in charge of making the arrangements. The latter's son, Megat Fairouz also claimed in a news report that millions were paid for the meeting. 

However, Mahathir's blog post did not make clear which US president he was referring to.

"Megat Junid's son said I paid millions to lobbyist to meet the US president. This was apparently told to him by his father.

"I don't know whether this statement is true or not. Maybe the Wisma (Putra) officer who arranged my meeting knows.

"What I know is there was no instruction from me to lobby (for a meeting)," he said.

Met four US presidents

In the blog post, Mahathir also recalled that when he first became prime minister, he prioritised visiting other countries before finally going to the US to meet the president in 1984.

Mahathir had met Bush in the Oval Office in 2002.

Mahathir's only mention of Bush in the blog post was that he had unofficial meetings with the 43rd US president, as well as other presidents, including George H Bush and Bill Clinton, in Washington and other locations.

"Usually, I would raise the question of palm oil and the US' attitude towards Muslim countries," he said.

The allegation that Mahathir paid to meet Bush first garnered attention in 2005.

The Washington Post reported at the time that Mahathir had allegedly hired Washington lobbyists through the US-based Heritage Foundation to persuade the White House to agree to the meeting.

The report claimed that the expenditure for the lobby activities amounted to about RM5.3million.

Meanwhile, the LA Times claimed that the Mahathir government paid a Republican lobbyist US$1.2 million to set up the Bush meeting.

Helis and limousines

Earlier in his blog post, Mahathir recounted the VIP treatment he received when he went to the US to meet Reagan.

He said the US had sent the president's special jet to LaGuardia Airport in New York to fly him and his wife Dr Siti Hasmah Ali to Washington.

They were then flown using the president's helicopter to the city, and welcomed by top US officials before they made their way to the Willard Hotel in Washington, DC as the Blair House (the White House's guest house) was under repair.

Mahathir also remembered how two stretch limousines with tinted windows were provided in his trip to the White House.

"Najib, instead, was welcomed at Washington Airport by the Malaysian ambassador to the US and stayed at (US President Donald) Trump's hotel which is known to be very expensive.

"Actually, Najib received the worst treatment compared to the treatment the other leaders and I received during our first official trip to the US,” he said.

Based on news reports and the American media, Mahathir claimed that Najib was treated like an outcast (pariah).- Mkini