NST reporting on Dr Mahathir

If you haven't the New Straits Times (NST) for a long while, do read the yesterday's NST news item on Dr Mahathir. If you don't want to, I have produce the article below, in brown highlights. Mind you, it’s not mean so much for you but more for the ‘party faithful’, to show all's well in UMNO.

Pushed for an opinion on Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s answer to allegations of nepotism and cronyism, he said: "I don’t have a personal opinion. I read the New Straits Times regularly ... The NST has a very good analysis. We should all read the NST."

;-) This was what Dr Mahathir told UMNO members at Kota Baru recntly (after the mace attack) about the NST and its group editor, Kalimullah Hassan:

So suddenly, this person [Kalimullah] is in power. He has powers to give orders to newspapers on what to publish. Not just the New Straits Times (NST). He wants to control Utusan Malaysia too. The Sun, the Star... all of it. And he used such powers to attack me.

Now, there is a word, ‘spin doctor’, doctor putar. During my time, there were no spin doctors, but there were real doctors. Now, we have ‘spin doctors’ - how to ‘spin’ a story. This is the effort of Kalimullah.

The Malay officers in NST have all been sacked. Replaced with ... Brendan Pereira. Now that’s a ‘Malay’. There are three or four others, who used to attack Malaysia while working in Singapore, but now controlling NST ...

I still remember when we took over NST in 1972. Tengku Razaleigh (Hamzah) was tasked with the operations because NST was owned by foreigners. And we elected Malays as editors and others. Now, all the Malays have been sacked and ‘New Malays’ such as Brendan have been given powers ... He writes stories (seemingly) to smear my name. I never thought that NST, which we bought, would now be used to attack me.

During the interview, Abdullah tackled a range of sensitive issues raised by Dr Mahathir. He defended his performance and denied suggestions his son Kamaluddin had benefited from their relationship.

He also dismissed talk that his son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin had his hands on the levers of power in government.

Dr Mahathir said the accusations against his hand-picked successor were not meant as trying to destabilize the Government. He also said that he had no personal animosity towards Abdullah.

"I’m not quarrelling with him. It’s not a personal quarrel, I’m just talking about projects. I keep telling the people, I’m talking about things which I think are wrong, but a lot of people obviously think it is right. All the ministers and all the MBs (Menteris Besar) were all thinking that it was right. I’m a minority of one," he said.

;-) Read my previous posting Dr Mahathir Told AAB to Quit

Over the past few months, the former prime minister has attacked Abdullah, accused him of reversing his policies, compromising national sovereignty and running a government with "no guts". He defended his attacks, saying that he just wanted answers. But despite repeated explanation by various ministers, Dr Mahathir has continued to intensify his attacks on Abdullah.

Yesterday, he denied that he was seeking a return to power.

"This is not a power tussle, I’m talking about projects and policies. This is no tussle," he said.

When asked whether he was making plans to meet Umno members: "No, I’m not planning anything. If people invite me ... if you ask me a question and I can answer, I will. If I cannot answer, I won’t."

"If Umno allows me to explain, I can go around and explain so that members will not be confused," he added.

;-) Read my previous postings:

(1) UMNO Div told Mahathir's persona non grata
(2) Khairy Jamaluddin's Millions & Power

This was what Dr Mahathir had said previously to reporters in response to UMNO leaders and ministers denying the party leaders had blacked out Dr Mahathir and embargoing UMNO members from meeting the Grand Ole Man.:

“They say it’s not true that I cannot speak to UMNO members so I would like to have an UMNO gathering to speak to UMNO people.”

“If they allow me to speak then I speak, because they say they are not stopping me from speaking to UMNO members. So, okay, I’m going to organise an UMNO meeting.”

“So far they (UMNO) have stopped five groups from having anything to do with me. Those people have invited me to speak to them (but) they have been told ‘no’ - they (UMNO) cannot allow me to speak to them.”

“When I speak to the NGOs (non-governmental organisations), they complain there are PAS members there, so I must control people who came to hear me also. Newspapers now black out (my news), people who wrote in letters supporting me cannot get them published.”

Well, Institut Kemahiran Mara (IKM) in Beseri, Perlis, has just revoked its approval for Dr Mahathir to speak at its main hall during an August 26th event organised by the Padang Besar Umno division. Division head Zahidi Zainul claimed that IKM Berseri was instructed by ‘people at the top’ to do that.

In the meanwhile, several Umno division Youth wings have retracted their invitations to Dr Mahathir's son, Mukhriz Mahathir to officiate their meetings. A source to Malaysiakini said he was informed that 'someone from Kuala Lumpur' had ordered that.

“Mukhriz is suffering the same fate as his father. We know that many functions involving Mahathir have been cancelled lately. The actions of certain quarters to view Mukhriz in this light is saddening and unreasonable because as an Umno Youth exco he is qualified and has the right to officiate the meetings.”

Looks like someone is running scared of Dr Mahathir. As Ku Li said: "why so afraid" of Dr Mahathir?