Tag: Dr Mahathir Mohamad

Dr Mahathir: Under PM Najib, Malaysian Malays Could Suffer Safe Fate As Singapore Malays,

KUALA LUMPUR, June 21 — After predicting the fall of the Barisan Nasional (BN) government under Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is now claiming that if the prime minister stays in power, the Malays here could become marginalised like their Singaporean brethren.

In a video of a Wednesday forum released online today by blogger Din Turtle, Dr Mahathir was seen reminding his audience that the struggle for the country is not for the personal goals of one man but for the survival of the nation, its race and its religion.

“I think we are smart people. Do we want to protect Najib? Or do we want to protect the Malays and the country?

“This is what we have to ask ourselves,” he said in his speech during the forum with several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) at the Perdana Foundation.

Dr Mahathir cited again the example of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) controversy, his biggest pet peeve of the Najib government, and said that he found it difficult to imagine how the firm had racked up a RM42 billion debt.

“Its hard to even imagine RM1 billion… even RM1 million, some Malays don’t recognise… this is RM42 billion,” he said.

“But if we don’t acknowledge the crime that is happening here, there is a high likelihood that we will lose and we will be divided… And we will suffer the fate of the Malays in Singapore, in southern Thailand and other places.

“Now we are thankful because we are still in power but if Najib leads the country, we will lose that power in our hands and at that point, there won’t be anyone there to offer us protection,” he said.

Dr Mahathir has been at the forefront of attacks against the Najib administration and has been actively campaigning for the prime minister’s resignation, believing the latter will lead BN to doom in the next federal polls.

Among others, Dr Mahathir has attacked Najib over his handling of the controversy surrounding 1MDB, the troubled state-owned firm that has racked up a debt of RM42 billion since its inception in 2009.

Najib, however, has refused to step down and has responded to Dr Mahathir’s accusations – several times via his blog and once through a pre-recorded interview on TV3.

Dr Mahathir, however, has refused to relent.

In his speech at the forum, the outspoken 89-year-old told Najib: “I am aware… I am old. And Najib said why listen to one man when the entire country supports him (Najib)… so why listen to one man?

“I don’t know if I am one man or I am many. But I request that if we want to save ourselves, we must show the strength of numbers… that is very important.

“We have to remind everyone that our struggle is not or one man alone. It is for our country, our race, our religion and that is our struggle.”

Despite Dr Mahathir’s persistence, Najib has fought hard to resist the former’s calls for his resignation, repeatedly responding by saying that he has the support of the leadership in Umno, the country’s ruling party and BN lynchpin.

In his latest blog post on June 12, Najib fired back at Dr Mahathir, accusing him of using the 1MDB controversy as a ploy to attack him.

Najib pointed out that if the former prime minister was genuinely interested in getting answers, he only needed to wait for the conclusion of the various investigations by the Auditor-General, Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and Bank Negara on 1MDB.

Source:www.themalaymailonline.com

June 22, 2015
Zaid Ibrahim: Under Najib, Malays Will Become Like Talibans

KUALA LUMPUR, June 21 — If Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak remains in office, the Malays here will become like those living under the repressive rule of the Taliban and not like Singapore’s Malays, former Umno minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim said.

Zaid, who was disagreeing with Dr Mahathir’s claim that Najib’s leadership would force the Malays here to become as marginalised as Singapore’s Malays, told the former prime minister that if his assertion were true, he would gladly support Najib.

“Sorry Tun if under Najib Malays here will become like Spore Malays; I will give him full support. Malays under Najjb will be Talibans,” the former minister wrote on Twitter today.

“Malays under Najib and Hadi will abandon their culture, traditions and values. Tun M must read my new book Assalamualaikum out in Sept,” he said in another post on the microblogging site.

In a video of a Wednesday forum released online today by blogger Din Turtle, Dr Mahathir was recorded saying that if Najib stays in power, the Malays here could become marginalised like their Singaporean brethren.

The former prime minister also remind his audience that the struggle for the country is not for the personal goals of one man but for the survival of the nation, its race and its religion.

“I think we are smart people. Do we want to protect Najib? Or do we want to protect the Malays and the country?

“This is what we have to ask ourselves,” he said in his speech during the forum with several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) at the Perdana Foundation.

Dr Mahathir has been at the forefront of attacks against the Najib administration and has been actively campaigning for the prime minister’s resignation, believing the latter will lead BN to doom in the next federal polls.

Among others, Dr Mahathir has attacked Najib over his handling of the controversy surrounding 1MDB, the troubled state-owned firm that has racked up a debt of RM42 billion since its inception in 2009.

Najib, however, has refused to step down and has responded to Dr Mahathir’s accusations — several times via his blog and once through a pre-recorded interview on TV3.

Source: www.themalaymailonline.com

June 22, 2015
Najib Razak Was My Hope But He Broke His Promise – Dr Mahathir Mohamad

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has unleashed a scathing attack against Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, saying that the Prime Minister broke his promise to build a crooked bridge between Johor Baru and Singapore.

In a five-part interview uploaded on a blog, Din Turtle, two days after Najib’s television interview, Dr Mahathir responded that the Prime Minister had supported the project when he took over office from Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

“He was my hope after Pak Lah (Abdullah) resigned. He said he would build the bridge when he became the prime minister even if Singapore opposes to it. But he didn’t do,” claimed the former premier.

Dr Mahathir said he was unhappy when Najib broke his promise and appeared to “kowtow” to Singapore for not proceeding with the project.

“If Singapore does not agree to this, it is not my fault. It is our sovereign right, it is in our own territorial area, territorial waters. Half of that Causeway belongs to us. I’m not touching Singapore’s side.

“He (Najib) said he made an agreement with Singapore, where is our independence? Are we part of Singapore?” questioned Dr Mahathir.

In a special interview with TV3 on Thursday, Najib said Dr Mahathir’s attacks against him could have been triggered due to their disagreement on the crooked bridge and the 1Malaysia People’s Aid (BR1M) cash handouts.

On BR1M, Dr Mahathir insisted that “feeding people with free money” was not an answer, but creating jobs and providing education to the people was what the country needs.

“We should create jobs for the people, give them education, train them so that they can live and make money for themselves. You can give welfare, but only to the people who are in need of welfare,” he said.

On the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) controversy, Dr Mahathir said it was better for Najib to resign now to prevent Barisan Nasional from losing in the next general election as the investigations to the company could take years to complete.

“It has to be now because we still have two years to recover. If he doesn’t go now, the Public Accounts Committee and others will be investigating the matter for the next two or three years and come GE, if he is still around, we will lose.

“I think there will be a lot of trouble for everyone. And those who cover up, they will have to pay the price,” he said, adding that there should be ‘two or three’ independent commissions to look into the matter.

“We need ‘neutral’ people to do a thorough investigation as to where the money went. Who was handling the money? Who is this Jho Low? Suddenly he became very important. He is not a civil servant, suddenly he has such power,” said Dr Mahathir.

On former police commando Sirul Azhar Umar, who was convicted of the murder of Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu, Dr Mahathir said that every person who was sentenced to death has the privilege to appeal to the King or to the Sultan.

“I was formerly a prime minister, you know. My duty is to advise the King (on whether the appeal should be granted or not),” he said.

Dr Mahathir, who met Sirul’s mother recently, insisted that the issue was not about politics.

He said that Sirul as a policeman would not kill unless he was attacked or instructed by someone.

Source: www.thestar.com.my

April 13, 2015
Zaid Ibrahim: Malaysian Malays Must Stop Voting Among Race Or Religious Lines To Improve Government

KUALA LUMPUR — Malays can be strong, but they must stop voting along race or religious lines and instead choose a political party that will improve the government, former de facto law minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim said today (Dec 21).

The Malay community could not work in isolation and needed other races for it to strengthen itself, Mr Zaid said in a rebuttal to Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s claim that Malay political power was weak that they had to “beg” from other races to win support.

“If they can make that quantum leap and embrace a political party which will make the government better, instead of choosing the defender of race and religion, that will further their cause.

“They must be willing to abandon the comfort of their own race or religious-based political party. That will mark a new beginning for us all,” said Mr Zaid in a post on his blog today.

He added that Malays would only weaken themselves if they took the cue from their leaders and pitted themselves against the rest of Malaysian society. The notion that Malays could be stronger without the other races “is the idea of UMNO”, he added.

“A nation’s progress is predicated on unity of purpose and optimising its people’s collective strength. This means that excluding non-Malays from the national agenda – as is practised today – actually weakens the Malays more than the non-Malays.

“Superficially, the Malays may be seen as the ones in control, but the reality is far different. The decision-makers who frame national policies may be Malays but they do not have the financial and economic tools to empower other Malays to succeed on their own.

“Consequently, future economic conditions will have to depend on Chinese money and human capital for it to be sustainable. If this analysis is proven correct, the only way the Malays can succeed is to collaborate and remain united with the rest of the Malaysian community.”

Yesterday, Dr Mahathir said Malay political parties had turned the Malay community into beggars to the Chinese, as they had to woo the non-Malays to secure enough support to win elections.

Dr Mahathir also claimed the divisions in the Malay community were to blame for its lagging economic performance.

He said the country’s aim to become a developed nation by 2020 would bring little benefit to the Malays because of their weakness and disunity.

However, Mr Zaid said today that the Malays’ economic performance depended on how united they were with other Malaysians, and not just among themselves.

“There is no evidence to suggest that people of the same group or ethnicity can ever be united and strong just by being on their own.

“They will just end up being insular and paranoid. In fact, there are many examples of communities growing stronger when they are united by diversity and a common purpose.”

He added that the situation in Malaysia could change if the moderates, especially the Malays, became more assertive and not allow right-wing groups, such as Isma and Perkasa, dominate the limelight most of the time.

“They must not expect that authoritarian rule to disappear without sacrifice and courage. Freedom, like breakfast, has a price.

“Indonesians have paid that price for democracy with their lives, the least we can do is to be prepared to be hauled up to police lock-ups once in a while.”

But he conceded that this was “easier said than done”, as Malays in business and in the government were hesitant to speak out and risk destroying their livelihood.

Soon after Dr Mahathir’s remarks yesterday, Mr Zaid has also tweeted a response: “Tun, Malays are supporting DAP because UMNO is no longer relevant and PAS more suited in Baluchistan”. THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER

Source: www.todayonline.com

December 22, 2014
Dr Mahathir: Malaysia Could Become Singapore if Chinese Community Continues to Support DAP

KUALA LUMPUR, March 13 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed warned today that Malaysia could become like Singapore if the Chinese community here continues to support DAP’s alleged dream of complete political and economic dominance in Malaysia.

The former prime minister claimed that nothing good will come of Chinese dominance in politics or the economy — as has happened in neighbouring Singapore — as Malaysia is a multi-cultural society mostly made up of the Malays.

“In the 13th General Election, the DAP dangled before the eyes of the Chinese that this time (kali ini) they can grab both political and economic dominance,” he said in his latest posting on his blog, chedet.cc.

“They point to the Perak model where when Pakatan won the head of Government was a Malay but he was totally subservient to the DAP (Chinese).

“When the Pakatan Government with Nizar of PAS as the MB was brought down, the DAP told the Chinese that they had lost a Chinese Government. The Chinese in Perak have since become anti-BN,” he added.

He was referring to Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin, the PAS leader who helmed Perak for 10 months in 2008 in a DAP-dominated government before a series of defections led to Barisan Nasional’s (BN) return to power in the silver state.

Dr Mahathir claimed that the DAP is taking advantage of the fact that the Malays today are divided between Umno and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) partners PKR and PAS, which gives DAP all the leverage it needs.

Explaining, he said the split support among the Malays would mean that all three Malay-based parties — Umno, PKR and PAS — would need to rely on Chinese support to win an election.

In such a situation, he alleged that DAP would not need to be directly in charge as they would have already worked out an arrangement with their PR partners where they would have their prime minister of choice under their thumb.

“Physically holding office is not necessary. If the Prime Minister is totally under the control of the DAP then it would become a Chinese dominated Government,” he said, adding that the DAP could very well see their so-called vision come true as soon as the next national polls if the trend of declining support for the ruling BN coalition continues.

Dr Mahathir insisted that the power-sharing formula now practised by BN — especially with the recent decision by MCA to rejoin the Cabinet after initially refusing to do so due to their poor outing in last year’s general election — is still the best way forward for the country.

He stressed that the DAP’s alleged plan to dominate the country’s politics and economy would only perpetuate a culture where each race will only look out for its own interests above the collective interests of the nation.

“Forget the idea of dominating all fields, of dominating both politics and economics. Go back to the idea of sharing. It will not be forever. It will be only for the duration when the Malays through their numbers dominate politics and the Chinese through their business acumen and money dominate the economy.

“Once the Malays and other indigenous people gain a fair share of the economic wealth of this country, they will lose their fear of Chinese domination. At that stage the Chinese share of political power would be enhanced.

“It may take years but that is as much as we can expect for as long as we insist on being identified by our racial origins,” he said.

BN is currently in a straight tussle with PKR in the Kajang state by-election this March 27. The ruling pact has put MCA vice-president Chew Mei Fun as their candidate against PKR president Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

Source: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/dr-m-malaysia-will-be-like-singapore-if-pakatan-takes-power

September 19, 2014