Ramasamy: Is Mahathir worried anti-graft net might be cast wider?

 

Is the government’s crackdown against alleged corruption involving previous leaders making Dr Mahathir Mohamad restless, wondered Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy.

According to the DAP leader, there is a lingering fear among “recipients of ill-begotten wealth” that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim might cast his net wider.

“In this respect, Anwar might even be contemplating going after earlier leaders who had a hand in robbing the country of billions.

“Mahathir who is often accused of assisting his cronies and relatives might have reason to be concerned,” he added in a media statement this afternoon.

He claimed this could be the impetus behind the former prime minister’s plan to hold the “Malay people’s proclamation” gathering with the aim of “destabilising the government”.

Ramasamy (above, left) was responding to Mahathir’s criticism of Anwar after claiming that several venues had cancelled the booking for the gathering.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim

Without providing evidence, Mahathir pointed the finger at the prime minister, accusing him of stifling dissent against his administration.

When Pakatan Harapan buried the hatchet and collaborated with Mahathir to oust BN in the 2018 general election, DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang had denied accusing the nonagenarian, who became prime minister for a second time then, of corruption.

In a 2019 interview, Lim, when quizzed on this, remarked: "I've never said he's corrupt. You can go through all my statements. It's all on record. I've never said Mahathir is corrupt.

"I would say there were instances of power abuse and all that," he added.

DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang

Lim was also asked if he would still push for investigations that he had previously sought on matters that happened during Mahathir's first tenure as prime minister (1981 to 2003), to which he replied that the Harapan government had other priorities.

‘What has Dr M done for Malays?’

Meanwhile, Ramasamy accused Mahathir of “laying the groundwork” for the infamous Sheraton Move in 2020 which led to the collapse of the Harapan government after 22 months in power.

“If he had no qualms about bringing down his own government, then what do you expect him to do with governments that he is not part of?” he added.

Ramasamy also asked Mahathir, who continues to harp on the claim that the Malays are left behind, what the latter had done for the race despite being prime minister twice.

“When Mahathir was in power he lambasted the Malays for not taking advantage of the economic opportunities that presented themselves.

“However, when he is not in power, he harps on how the Malays have lost out to the non-Malays.

“My question is simple: he was the prime minister twice, for the first period it was 22 years and the second period, 22 months. What did he do to address the plight of the ordinary Malays?” he added. - Mkini