Tourism and Culture Minister Nazri Abdul Aziz has dismissed speculation that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak was behind the cancellation of a debate with Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
He said Najib had thanked him for wanting to debate the former premier.
"We met in Parliament two weeks ago... He thanked me for being willing to engage Mahathir in a dialogue.
"I don't think the prime minister is the reason (the debate was cancelled)," he told a press conference at the Parliament media centre this afternoon.
Nazri said Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had also voiced support for the debate, and that the matter was not discussed in cabinet meetings in the past two weeks.
He also dismissed allegations that the police bailed him out, but blamed the men in blue for torpedoing the debate.
"I think this is the police's problem," he said.
Nazri was responding to the police cancelling the debate based on security reasons after initially giving the green light for it to be held at the Sinar Harian office in Shah Alam on April 7.
This is the second time police stopped the debate, which was originally supposed to be held in Padang Rengas on March 25.
Nazri jested that perhaps police considered him a national security threat, prompting them to cancel the debate.
"Mahathir is a very frail old man, and no threat at all to national security.
"I think I am the reason police cancelled (the debate), maybe I am like a gangster, I don't know," he said.
He proposed that the police organise the debate at their auditorium in Cheras to overcome any security issues.- Mkini
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