Annuar: Nothing can stop Dr M from 'lying' for political gains

A top Umno leader today claimed that there is nothing that can stop former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad from using lies as a part of his political strategy. 

Umno information chief Annuar Musa claimed Mahathir had indulged in a series of lies since his time in power, the latest being his attacks against deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

“If if it was that easy for Tun M to lie to the people, in the past or now, there is nothing that can stop him from condoning lies as part of his political strategy,” said the Ketereh MP in a statement. 

Annuar, as such, urged all Umno members to not fall into the traps set by its enemies, particularly those from the federal opposition pact Pakatan Harapan, to sow seeds of animosity and create divisions within their ranks. 

“Mahathir’s latest slander towards deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, that he (Zahid) had purportedly sought his support to topple prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, is yet another attempt to plant doubts in the hearts and minds of Umno members,” said Annuar.

Mahathir had in a blog post on Monday, reminded Zahid of the time during which the latter had purportedly come to seek his sympathy and support to replace Najib. 

In an interview with The Malaysian Insight, Mahathir once again insisted that Zahid had hoped to convince Najib to step down soon after he was appointed deputy prime minister, replacing Muhyiddin Yassin. 

It is not known when the purported meeting took place. Zahid was appointed as deputy prime minister in 2015 after Muhyiddin was dropped from the cabinet due to his critical views on 1MDB.

Mahathir has been targeting Zahid since the latter took a swipe at the former premier's Indian heritage during an Umno event over the weekend.

Commenting further, Annuar said Mahathir’s latest attacks is no different than his previous attempts to raise the anger of Umno members by making accusations about the purported RM42 billion missing funds from 1MDB.

This was on top of Mahathir’s previous allegations that jailed PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim was unfit to be an Umno leader due to alleged moral issues, he pointed out. 

“Alhamdulillah, Umno members have remained loyal, in solidarity, and not easily swayed by Tun M’s tricks,” Annuar said, noting that the current attacks also comes at a time when Mahathir is no longer enemies with the DAP whom he used to relentlessly attack as being a racist an anti-Malay party.  - Mkini