Najib riding Dr M's tyrannical coattails, says Ops Lalang detainee

While former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad is playing 'white knight' trying to 'oust' unpopular Prime Minister Najib Razak, it is the good doctor who is the bigger baddie, a former Internal Security Act detainee says.

Irene Xavier, one of the 106 people nabbed in Ops Lalang, says this is because Najib is only piggybacking on the damage Mahathir had already dealt to the country and its system of governance.

"It was Mahathir who began to put in place the system which Najib is now using.

"He (Mahathir) destroyed the judiciary, he destroyed education, economy. Many of these things he fiddled with and weakened them.

"So when Najib comes along, he just uses what Mahathir has already put in place," Irene told reporters after a talk titled 'Mahathirism vs Najibism' in Kuala Lumpur last night.

This she said has allowed Najib to continue ruling the country despite his many scandals.

Institute Rakyat executive director Yin Shao Loong however points out that Mahathir had learned to be authoritarian from Najib's father, Abdul Razak.

"Razak had a lot of practice in developing authoritarianism such as during with the May 13 crisis, and the coup against Tunku Abdul Rahman.

"Mahathir didn't invent authoritarianism [...] but he was a good student of Razak," Yin said during the talk.

This he said, was why Mahathir claims he pushed for Najib to become premier, as a reward to his mentor.

ISA under different guises

The talk organised by civil rights advocacy group Loyar Burok, was aimed at drawing comparisons between Mahathir's and Najib's rule.

In his 22 years as prime minister, Mahathir had used the ISA extensively to silence his opponents.

While Najib had abolished the Act in 2011, he soon replaced it with similar laws such as the Prevention of Crime Act (Poca), the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma), and most recently the National Security Council Act.

Laws, which critics say replicates provisions of the draconian ISA, if under different names. Just as Najib is seemingly replicating his predecessor's strong-arm use of security legislation to silence dissent and threaten critics.

Mahathir had repeatedly called for Najib's resignation and advocated his once chosen successor's ouster from the Umno presidency and premier's chair, claiming disgust with the PM's many scandals and alleged failures, including the purported abuse of laws to persecute dissidents.

Though as Irene and others have pointed out, Najib is only following in Mahathir's footsteps. - Mkini