Mahathir fears being arrested if PR wins, goes all out to drag Anwar into Sabah RCI scandal

It looks like former premier Mahathir Mohamad is finally beginning to confront the fact that the Opposition can and is likely to wrest the federal government at the coming 13th general election.

In such an eventuality, the 87-year-old Mahathir - who has been accused of squirreling away at least US$100 billion - from the national coffers knows he cannot escape legal scrutiny from his arch rival and former deputy - Anwar Ibrahim, who now leads the Pakatan Rakyat.

"Some say I should leave Malaysia before election results are announced. That the first thing they (Pakatan) will do (when in power) is to close down all the airports so that no private plane can take off. They will take action against people who were not friendly, or they think were not friendly to them," were the glib comments that tripped off the former strongman's tongue on Tuesday.

In his speech made at an economic forum in Kuala Lumpur, Mahathir also joked that he was happy that the Internal Security Act no longer existed and that Pakatan, which had clamored for its abolition, could not throw people into jail without charging them if it came to power.

"Without the ISA, I feel more comfortable," said Mahathir, who during his authoritarian rule had jailed thousands of people under the draconian Act that allowed his government to incarcerate political rivals without trial for indefinite periods of time.

Whether Mahathir waas fishing for information on how Anwar and Pakatan would deal with his alleged corruption or he was just making political mischief, DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang - another of his long-standing nemesis - assured him that the Pakatan would not act vengefully but professionally.

"Can assure Dr M - no vengeance against him," Kit Siang said on his Twitter.

Spiteful Dr M

Mahathir also made sure he dragged Anwar into the Sabah citizenship-for-votes scandal.

Not surprisingly, Mahathir, whom many regard as the Devil for trying to persuade Malaysians they should vote for BN, the Devil they knew, rather than Pakatan, the angel they didn't, didn't offer any proof to back his allegations.

"He had a hand in it," said Mahathir, when asked if he ever ordered Anwar to issue identification cards to unqualified immigrants in Sabah.

"He normally takes the initiative and sometimes do more (than is required). What happens on the ground is often different from the directive (from above)."

Mahathir, who was prime minister as well as home minister during the tumultuous 1980s and 90s, has admitted the Sabah Project I.C. or Project M was his baby. He has however insisted he did nothing illegal by handing out citizenship to the Sabah foreign workers and even likened his action to that of first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman, who had given out citizenship to a million people mostly Chinese and Indians as part of a process in gaining independence from British colonial rulers in 1957.

However, Anwar and pakatan have accused Mahathir of covertly offering the citizenship in exchange for the immigrants agreeing to vote for the BN during the elections, which is tantamount to high treasonous. Anwar, who was then the deputy premier as well as finance minister, has denied any links to Project M, saying he was kept "out of the loop" by Mahathir.

In the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the citizenship-for-votes scandal now being held in Sabah, witnesses from the National Registration Department have come forward to testify that they received their instructions from Mahathir's political secretary Aziz Shamsuddin and the late Megat Junid, a deputy minister and die-hard Mahathir supporter.

"This is the spitefulness that Mahathir is famous for. He is just trying to sully and smear Anwar's name. Look at the sodomy charges he fabricated against Anwar to cover his RM30billion of forex losses and economic mismanagement - it is the same political dishonesty and ruthlessness," PKR head of disciplinary committee Tan Kee Kwong told Malaysia Chronicle.

Malaysia Chronicle