'I never threatened to sack Guan Eng,' claims Mahathir

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad today denied Lim Guan Eng’s claim that he had threatened to sack the DAP leader from his cabinet, saying it was a “blatant lie”.

According to Mahathir, he always respected Lim’s position as a component party leader even when they had different views on certain matters.

“I never threatened to sack Guan Eng. That is a blatant lie. He was the head of DAP, a coalition member. I must respect his position.

“The only minister I dropped was Dr Maszlee Malik, minister of education,” Mahathir said in a statement.

He was responding to Lim, who yesterday wrote a critical statement against the two-time prime minister.

In his piece, the former DAP secretary-general said Mahathir openly threatened to sack him three times during cabinet meetings over several issues.

Lim claimed Mahathir was upset when he insisted the government reduce toll charges at the North-South Expressway by 18 percent, and for opposing the then-prime minister’s plan to ban Umno.

In response to the toll issue, Mahathir said the decision to abolish tolls was never his alone.

Not PM’s sole decision

According to the former Langkawi MP, his job was to chair cabinet meetings, and both he and Lim had the right to express their views.

“In the end, it was the cabinet which decided; not the prime minister alone. The minister of finance had his say. If the cabinet is not for abolishing tolls, then tolls could not be abolished.”

He also denied Lim’s claim that he wished to ban Umno as a political party.

Mahathir said he was surprised at the comments Lim made about his second stint as prime minister and that he would like to hear from others who worked with him during his 22-year first stint in the top job as the fourth prime minister. - Mkini