'They want to see me crawl, humiliate me'

Pakatan Harapan has welcomed Dr Mahathir Mohamad into its fold despite the acrimonious past between its leaders and the former premier, who was accused of ruling with an iron fist, stifling dissent and emasculating key institutions.

However, Mahathir has denied the slew of allegations against him, often pinning the blame on others such as the police for the Internal Security Act (ISA) crackdown in 1987 which saw the arrests of scores of opposition leaders and activists, as well as the detention and subsequent imprisonment of ally-turned-rival-turned-ally Anwar Ibrahim.

In an interview with Malaysiakini in Putrajaya yesterday, the 92-year-old former premier appeared a little agitated when quizzed on this and as expected, remained unapologetic.

He said even Anwar himself had not asked him to apologise, and therefore, civil society leaders should stop harping on the issue.

“His family didn't ask me (to apologise). But these people would like to see me crawl down and all that... humiliate me. That's what they want. But they are other people, not the family.”

When pointed out that the apology was not related to what happened to Anwar alone but other incidents which transpired during his 22-year tenure, Mahathir shot back: “But these people are not politicians, they are NGOs!”

“The reason they are NGOs is because so they are able to be critical of everything. Commit yourself to one (political) party or another, then you would know there are constraints.”

Mahathir has nevertheless issued a string of apologies lately – among others, he expressed regret for his “keling” remark seen as derogatory to Indian Malaysians and for dismissing those killed in the Memali incident as "mati katak" (died in vain).

However, that appeared to be as far as he was willing to go.

'Did I steal money, am I MO1?'

On the issue of the suppression of the press during his era, Mahathir denied that he was responsible for the calls from the Prime Minister's Office to media organisations instructing that certain news reports be removed.

The former premier blamed this on his subordinates instead.

“Not me, not me. I think when you have press conferences with me, you can ask any question, I have never said no… When somebody else rings you up - that I am not responsible for,” he said.

Responding to another question, Mahathir dismissed the belief that he micro-managed everything when he was in power, and that nothing was done without him issuing specific instructions.

“Nonsense. That is not true. People (his subordinates and staff) think that 'Oh, he doesn’t like this... we must stop it'.”

He said his underlings were often second-guessing him on what he wanted to do.

“This is my staff always thinking that I don’t like this, I don’t like that. This or that cannot be done. You know, it is their decision,” he said.

Mahathir then compared himself to caretaker prime minister Najib Razak and stressed that the two do not share similar traits.

“I have allowed people to form (political) parties against me. Not Najib. When I formed a party, he says it's illegal. You see? He doesn’t want to register the (Pakatan Harapan) coalition. Have I done that? I didn’t do that.

“Did I steal money? Did I have scandals like Najib? Am I MO1 (Malaysian Official 1)? Please see the difference. Don't just say, 'Oh, you and Najib are the same'. What same?

“I don't do that kind of things. I don't abuse power. He abuses power. Separation of powers between the legislative, executive and the judiciary - there is none now.

“There is no rule of law. If there is rule of law, we can report his wrongdoings and police would take action. We reported, and the person who reported got arrested.

“Did I do that? Try to be sensible lah... Don't try to say somebody rang you (the media organisations) up and all that…,” he added, his feathers visibly ruffled.

When pointed out that there are scores of books and reports which have documented his alleged abuses, Mahathir retorted:

“When you are in power there are a lot of people who would be unhappy about you. They would write nasty things about you. For me, that is normal.

“They called me a dictator. Which dictator resigned? Tell me. Have you found any dictator who resigned?

“Or who did not appoint his son as his successor? (Syrian president) Bashar Al-Assad is the son of Hafiz (Al-Assad). You see? Am I like that?

“My son couldn't even get into the party, but you don't say anything about that. I didn’t allow them to do any business with the government. You don't want to say anything about that. I don’t allow my name to be used all over the place like some people.

“All schools are named after ministers. I didn't. But you don't see that. I got rid of that 'menteri' (minister) plate (number) on the car... But you don't want to notice. You only notice the bad things... Because bad news is good news. I know.”

Concentration of power

Mahathir also refused to concede that he played a significant role in concentrating power in the hands of the prime minister during his time, which has subsequently made it difficult for him to remove Najib.

“No, it is the abuse of power! The law says very clearly that there must be rule of law. That there is a constitution. That the powers are divided between the legislative, executive and judiciary. All these things are ignored by him (Najib). I didn't ignore these things,” he argued.

The former premier complained that he had to bear the consequences of the actions of others down in the chain of command.

“It has not been easy to run the country. Even if you want to do good sometimes, the things you want to do is considered as bad.

“Every time I build a bridge, (people say) 'Oh, it's a waste of money'. But then, they want to build another bridge. I built the North-South Highway, (people say) 'Oh, it's a waste of money'. But now without the North-South Highway, what would Malaysia be like?

“I shifted the administrative capital to Putrajaya, (people say) 'Oh, it's a waste of money'. But now, they all want to come to Putrajaya.

“I mean when you make a decision, it cannot be perfect. Lots of people would think it's a bad decision.”