Selangor Sultan: Mahathir has an inferiority complex

PETALING JAYA: The Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, has said he is unimpressed with the U-turns former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad has been taking over the last few years.

He said that all the nine Malay Rulers also felt the same way about Mahathir since his active return to politics.
“To build up a good name is very difficult, to destroy is too easy. Mahathir was there for 22 years, it was not by his own effort. The party put him there and now he wants to destroy the party.

“He thought his 22 years were so big. He does not want any other Prime Minister to do better than him and tries to push them down. That’s why I say he has an inferiority complex,” the sultan said in an exclusive interview with The Star in conjunction with his 72nd birthday celebration tomorrow.

Sultan Sharafuddin also insisted that he did not harbour any vengeful feelings over how the royalty was treated when Mahathir amended the constitution to curb their powers.

“All the newspapers hit us. I was very upset, I asked my father why can’t we hit back. I’m not sure about the other Rulers but my father said no, we cannot expose to the world what he is doing to us, so we kept quiet,” he told The Star.

Sultan Sharafuddin also remembered what his father, the late Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah, had said then about Mahathir: “Today is his day, tomorrow will be our day”.

On Tuesday, The Star had also reported the sultan as saying that he had only rebuked Mahathir for his remark on Bugis pirates three weeks after the event as he wanted to have all the facts first.

Sultan Sharafuddin had said that he had heard about Mahathir’s remark while on the way to perform the umrah.
“I did not want to react blindly. I waited until I returned and spoke to different people who were there and who knew what actually happened. I only spoke after that,” he was quoted as saying.

He had said, however, that the former prime minister had yet to apologise for his words, adding that Mahathir “never apologises”.

Meanwhile, the sultan said the Malay Rulers were also very concerned when politicians play up religious and racial issues.

They had, for instance, taken a strong stand on the Muslim laundrette issue in Johor as it was seen as a form of extremism.

“Do they know how a laundry machine works? Or how every wash involves three rounds of water? If you don’t agree to the laundrette, then wash your own clothes or get your own washing machine. Don’t create issues because the politicians will jump on it and other people will follow,” he said.

“Religion should be a guideline for us to do good things. We have to make sure that it does not go into extremes.”

In September, a laundrette in Muar, Johor, had caused an uproar after putting up a sign that said the shop was for Muslims only.

The owner of the laundrette apologised and agreed to serve all races after a reprimand from Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar who had told the owner to open his laundry in Afghanistan if he wanted to continue with his “Muslims only” business policy. -FMT