Salleh: Dr M turning to DAP after failing to woo Malays

Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak claimed former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's "dramatic U-turn" on DAP was due to the latter's inability to woo Malays to his cause.

He said this in response to Mahathir's attendance at a DAP fundraising dinner in Gelang Patah yesterday, a constituency in which just four years ago, he had asked voters there to "bury" DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang's political career.

"Why this sudden and very drastic U-turn after more than 44 years of hating DAP? 

"We can only assume that in his desperation, Mahathir is scraping the bottom of the barrel because he realises that unless his party and Pakatan Harapan can get Chinese support, they are going to get wiped out in the next general election because they have already lost the support of the Malay electorate," Salleh said in a blog posting today.

Mahathir, at the dinner last night, reiterated that DAP was not a Chinese chauvinist party and that he had demonised the DAP when he was prime minister due to politics.

Salleh said Mahathir's condemnation of the DAP and its Chinese supporters had spanned four decades.

"For more than 44 years, from 1969 to 2013, Mahathir has been consistent in condemning DAP and its Chinese supporters. 

"In 1969, Mahathir said he does not need Chinese votes to win the election and just based on Malay votes alone he can win. 

"The Chinese then decided to vote for PAS and Yusof Rawa won instead. 

"Mahathir then retaliated by writing his anti-Chinese book, 'The Malay Dilemma', which was banned by the government," he said.

As such, Salleh said the change of heart after 44 years was an ironic development.

Mahathir has accused the current government of being a kleptocratic one and has vowed to unseat Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

Having quit Umno, Mahathir is now the chairperson of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) which is a member of Harapan.

In the absence of PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim, who had been the galvanising figure in the opposition, Mahathir appears to have taken upon himself to fill the void.- Mkini