Pejuang chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad has described ex-prime minister Najib Abdul Razak's "Malu Apa Bossku" slogan to a naked man receiving a foreign dignitary and then urinating in front of the guest.
He said this was the culture being promoted by BN and its advisory board chairperson Najib Abdul Razak.
Mahathir said his party is committed to rid of such a culture of legitimising corruption.
"We have been led astray by BN and Najib's argument saying what is there to be ashamed of. As long as the leader is Malay Muslim, there is nothing to be ashamed of even if they steal money or steal chickens.
"We don't think that it is wrong or something to be ashamed of. But think about it, one day, a foreign dignitary visits our country - a president or king visits Malaysia.
"The dignitary, in full uniform and medals, arrives to a line of honour. But our leader welcomes him, naked. What is there to be ashamed of?
Our naked leader escorts the dignitary and halfway through the line of honour starts urinating. What is there to be ashamed? Just urinate," he said.
Mahathir said this after launching the party's manifesto in Putrajaya for the upcoming Johor polls - dubbed Pejuang's Aspiration for Johor - which among others aspires to restore good virtues that do not accept corruption.
"We won't go naked, we will be in full clothing to welcome our guest appropriately. I hope Malaysians will move away from the culture brought by Najib," he said.
Mahathir said Pejuang, which will be contesting 42 out of the 56 seats in Johor, aspires to form a just government.
He said that his party will also work to restore the economy devastated by the Covid-19 pandemic with a focus on reducing exports of raw material in favour of turning them into value-added products and expanding local investments on a mass scale.
"For the longest time, we have relied on foreign direct investment (FDI). When started to attract FDI, other countries weren't interested in FDI but now every country wants FDI so we find a shortage of them," he said.
Therefore, he said there was a need to shift to local investments. He gave the example of how the glove industry in Malaysia managed to become the world's top exporter, adding that allegations of forced labour in the industry were "false".
Mahathir said he believed Pejuang's promises were realistic enough to fulfil, unlike bold goals under the previous Pakatan Harapan government which were hard to fulfil as some of their proposals needed a two-thirds majority in Parliament which they did not have.
'I didn't think I would recover'
Asked if he will be campaigning in the Johor polls, Mahathir said his doctors have advised against it.
Mahathir was discharged from the National Heart Institute (IJN) on Feb 5, his third stay in a month. His family has not revealed the exact nature of his ailment but Mahathir described it as an "attack".
"I have recovered - to my surprise. I didn't think I could recover but I recovered. As you can see, I can still talk, think and be logical because I have really recovered.
"But the recovery is not 100 percent. The doctors insist that I be careful because I am 97 and you know if old people get Covid-19, it's dangerous.
"So the doctors said I have to be extra careful so as for visiting Johor, I would like to visit Johor but I cannot go to Johor because my doctors said they cannot guarantee I won't be infected and I won't become serious because of my age and the fact that I have only recovered from a very serious attack, illness, lately.
"If I am attacked again, I don't know what the result will be," he said.
However, Mahathir is still able to contribute to Pejuang's cause.
Mahathir said his party chose 42 seats for strategic reasons. He said Pejuang was not contesting in non-Malay seats or Umno strongholds where voters do not care even if the party is corrupt.
He reiterated that Pejuang will move alone as the wider opposition was embroiled in infighting.
"We think we have a good chance," he said. - Mkini
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