As expected, Mahathir starts firing at Najib

Following Mukhriz Mahathir’s failed bid in trying to dislodge one of the UMNO vice president incumbents in the party polls recently, many had predicted his father Dr Mahathir Mohamad to retaliate.

And yes he did.

Mahathir yesterday fired a salvo at Prime Minister Najib Razak saying his administration is weak and always bowing to the demands of extremists in the opposition.

“We have a government that is weak because of weak support from the people, and with a tendency to accede to the demands of extremists in the opposition.

“The worst part is that they make extreme demands to unseat the government who can’t get rid of whatever they don’t like. But if you think that they will then say ‘thanks, we will support you now’, you are mistaken,” Mahathir was quoted saying by The Malaysian Insider.

He added that the political situation in the country is unstable because the public has a perception that Najib government is weak and “lunatic fringe now hold sway over politics in the country.”

Mahathir, a staunch supporter of UMNO’s right-wing offshoots, had interestingly called on Najib to stop entertaining the demands of extremist groups and stay in sync with the thinking of moderates to convince them to work together to promote stability.

The 88-year-old leader said he hoped moderates would prevail one day in UMNO, with courage to make choices for the good of the nation, politics and society.

Meanwhile, Mahathir also lamented that money politics within the Malay party had worsen resulting in undeserving candidates emerged winners in the recent UMNO polls.

"I think there was a lot of money involved, going into the millions and loads of people who should not be getting votes were getting votes because of the money they spent," Mahathir alleged.

On Mukhriz’s defeat, Mahathir said the former has no choice but to accept it.

“Even if he wants to complain about bribery, it is too late now," Malaysiakini quoted Mahathir as saying.

This is just the beginning of Mahathir’s attack. PAS vice president Salahuddin Ayub said he expected Najib to receive much worse than what suffered by his predecessor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi from Mahathir’s wrath.