RAIS: TELLING NAJIB TO QUIT IS NOT THE ‘MALAY’ WAY

Former minister Rais Yatim slams Dr Mahathir for repeated calls on the prime minister to step down.

KUALA LUMPUR: Former minister Rais Yatim has told former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad that it is not the “Malay” way to publicly call for a leader to step down.

He was commenting on Mahathir’s repeated calls for Prime Minister Najib Razak to resign for various reasons pertaining to his leadership.

Rais, the socio-cultural adviser to the government however said Mahathir had to stop this pattern of insisting prime ministers resign, something he started doing with Tunku Abdul Rahman.

He explained that the former prime minister had issued an open letter asking Tunku to step down from office, and years later told Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to do the same as well.

“I think this should stop,” Rais was quoted as saying in an interview with Utusan Malaysia today.

“It’s not the Malay way of making a leader lose face by asking them in front of everyone to step down.”

In his letter sent to the Tunku after the May 13, 1969 race riots, Mahathir had reportedly blamed the first prime minister and Umno president for the country’s problems and told him to step down because of his failures.

Later Abdullah resigned as well after only one term in office following harsh criticisms from Mahathir over his leadership.

Mahathir is now pushing for Najib to resign, blaming him for the country’s economic woes as well as the financial scandals surrounding the debt-laden 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).