'Who's the one looking for a fight?' Dr M asks Anwar

 

Dr Mahathir Mohamad implied he is not the one looking for a fight with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim because it is the latter who has incessantly thrown accusations at him over the years.

The former prime minister said he only decided to take legal action now because Anwar has become the prime minister and yet has continued to accuse him of enriching himself while in power.

“This is quite strange. He has accused me of all sorts of things for decades. At the time, when asked to provide evidence, he could not show one shred of proof even though there are tales that he has boxes of evidence in his hands.

“I did not take action because I took it as the actions of a desperate person who wanted to become the prime minister too badly.

“But today, when he has become prime minister, he continues to accuse (me). So I asked him to retract (his statements) and if not, I will take legal action.

“That is what I have done. So who is the one looking for a fight?” he said in a posting on his social media today.

Letter of demand

On April 7, Anwar said he had no qualms about providing evidence to Mahathir to back his claims.

“I don’t want to fight. He has asked for proof, I will give (him) proof, no problem,” Anwar had said.

Yesterday was the last day for Anwar to reply to Mahathir’s letter of demand, which demanded that the prime minister retract his claims made during his policy speech at the PKR special national congress on March 18.

Anwar’s initial deadline to respond to Mahathir’s legal letter was April 3 but it was postponed to yesterday after Anwar’s lawyers asked for an extension.

Anwar responded to the letter via his lawyer yesterday, stating that he denied all allegations made by Mahathir.

“In this regard, our client is ready to answer any allegations – if any – in court and not through correspondence if your client wants to proceed with legal action,” the letter stated.

Mahathir’s lawyer Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali has since confirmed that they will proceed with legal action against Anwar.

Though Anwar did not mention any names in his policy speech on March 18, he did refer to someone who “after 22 years and 22 months of being in power, is lamenting about Malays losing everything, losing assets, shares”.

Mahathir claimed this was a clear reference to him as media reports on the speech mentioned his name. - Mkini