I was Perikatan’s PM candidate, says Dr Mahathir, and I was obstacle, adds Najib
Ex-prime minister speaks of his reservations about working with ‘criminals’ in Umno’s ‘court cluster’
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (right) says he cannot work with Datuk Seri Najib Razak. – File pic, April 15, 2021
KUALA LUMPUR – Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has asserted that he was Perikatan Nasional’s choice to helm the government following Pakatan Harapan’s collapse in February last year.
He said he was PN’s prime minister candidate as he had statutory declarations of support from PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, former Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razak and others.
“Since the beginning, I was the (prime minister) candidate (for the new government after PH). That was how (Bersatu MP Datuk Seri) Hamzah Zainudin could get statutory declarations from Hadi, from Najib, and from the others,” he told Malaysiakini in an interview.
“All of them gave their support to me, so that when he (Hamzah) leaves and I, too, leave (PH), I would be the prime minister for the party I had fought against. But I did not want this.
“So, when (Tan Sri) Muhyiddin (Yassin) knew I did not want (to be part of the plan), he volunteered himself. So, he became prime minister.”
Dr Mahathir reiterated that he had reservations about working with “criminals”, referring to Umno’s “court cluster”.
Party president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Najib both have criminal cases against them.
“I made promises to the people. I promised the rakyat that we (PH) wanted to bring down Najib. So, I cannot work with Najib,” said Dr Mahathir.
He said he was PN’s prime minister candidate as he had statutory declarations of support from PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, former Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razak and others.
“Since the beginning, I was the (prime minister) candidate (for the new government after PH). That was how (Bersatu MP Datuk Seri) Hamzah Zainudin could get statutory declarations from Hadi, from Najib, and from the others,” he told Malaysiakini in an interview.
“All of them gave their support to me, so that when he (Hamzah) leaves and I, too, leave (PH), I would be the prime minister for the party I had fought against. But I did not want this.
“So, when (Tan Sri) Muhyiddin (Yassin) knew I did not want (to be part of the plan), he volunteered himself. So, he became prime minister.”
Dr Mahathir reiterated that he had reservations about working with “criminals”, referring to Umno’s “court cluster”.
Party president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Najib both have criminal cases against them.
“I made promises to the people. I promised the rakyat that we (PH) wanted to bring down Najib. So, I cannot work with Najib,” said Dr Mahathir.
He didn't know what a promise is - just in the way he had reneged on his deal with Anwar, not ratifying the Rome Statute as he promised pompously to the UN, and reneging on a peace treaty with the CPM and Thailand in wilful total disregard of his obligation to respect the Peace Agreement of Hat Yai (1989), again for his own political interests.
That deliberate refusal to honour the terms of the internationally signed Peace Agreement was ONLY against Chin Peng (Ong Boon Hwa), whilst two Malay leaders of the Communist Party of Malaysia (CPM), namely, Shamsiah Fakeh and Rashid Maidin, were allowed to return to Malaysia, in fact with much warmth.
COMMENT by Terence Netto: Former Inspector-General of Police Abdul Rahim Mohd Noor has weighed in on the debate – firmly on the side of us keeping our solemn commitments as outlined in an international peace agreement.
Chin Peng, longtime Secretary-General of the Communist Party of Malaya, was denied entry into Malaysia and now that he is dead, his ashes are barred from being brought into the country for interment, presumably at the Chinese cemetery in the village of Pundut, in Lumut, where the graves of the CPM leader’s parents lie.
The disbarment, according to Rahim Noor, are in violation of the Hatyai Peace Accords signed in December 1989 between the governments of Malaysia, Thailand and CPM.
If it wasn’t for the fact that former IGP was the man who headed the Malaysian team in the negotiations that led to the Hatyai Peace Accords, his opinion that we are making an international “laughing stock” of ourselves in refusing Chin Peng’s ashes to be interred here would not have mattered, given the nature of the public debate, suffused as so many things are in Malaysia with racist sentiment.
Rahim has weighed in the public debate on the sanest side possible in this wrangle. This is the side of the letter of the Hatyai agreement that brought peace to the Malaysia-Thailand border, the focal area, between 1960 and 1989, of the conflict between communist terrorists belonging to the CPM and Malaysian and Thai security forces.
As Special Branch head at the time of accords with the CPM and as the government’s lead negotiator, Rahim should know the terms and conditions of the Hatyai agreement.
If there is anybody who can hold forth authoritatively on the contentious matter of whether Chin Peng had a right to come back to Malaysia and, now that he has died, have his ashes buried in his hometown of Sitiawan, it is Rahim.
Rahim said the government was in violation of the agreement when it barred Chin Peng from returning to Malaysia as the former Secretary General of the CPM desired and, when he was baulked, petitioned the Malaysian courts for recourse.
The courts upheld the government’s bar on Chin Peng’s return and now the government thumbs its nose further at the Hatyai accords by barring the entry of the CPM leader’s ashes.
Rahim believes in keeping his word
Rahim’s opinion that the government is behaving less than honourably is the more remarkable because he has appeared in recent years at public forums organised by Perkasa, the Malay right wing group that is prominent among the voices defending the government’s disbarment of Chin Peng.
At least, Rahim believes in keeping his word and in the government keeping theirs, but the NGO Rahim has seen fit to patronize does not.
Yes, the government has been far more unforgiving on the killings of MCP, notwithstanding the by-now-viewed-as-useless-or-dishonoured 1989 Haadyai Peace Treaty between the Malaysian government (signed by Mahathir) and the MCP.
But then what about MCP leaders like, for example, Syed Hamid Ali and Shamsiah Faekah who were allowed back into Malaysia to settle down as Malaysian citizens? Did they have still have identification papers showing their citizenship? Did they spilled Malaysian blood? Yet Ong Boon Hwa (Chin Peng) after his death could not even have his ashes buried in Sitiawan, his place of birth.
Yes, there have been those blatant double standards exhibited by Mahathir and his UMNO-led government in their treatment of Ong Boon Hwa, a Chinese former CT versus former CT Syed Hamid Ali and Shamsiah Faekah, and also Malay JI terrorists like mass murderers Azahari and Noordin Top.
Chin Peng, longtime Secretary-General of the Communist Party of Malaya, was denied entry into Malaysia and now that he is dead, his ashes are barred from being brought into the country for interment, presumably at the Chinese cemetery in the village of Pundut, in Lumut, where the graves of the CPM leader’s parents lie.
The disbarment, according to Rahim Noor, are in violation of the Hatyai Peace Accords signed in December 1989 between the governments of Malaysia, Thailand and CPM.
If it wasn’t for the fact that former IGP was the man who headed the Malaysian team in the negotiations that led to the Hatyai Peace Accords, his opinion that we are making an international “laughing stock” of ourselves in refusing Chin Peng’s ashes to be interred here would not have mattered, given the nature of the public debate, suffused as so many things are in Malaysia with racist sentiment.
Rahim has weighed in the public debate on the sanest side possible in this wrangle. This is the side of the letter of the Hatyai agreement that brought peace to the Malaysia-Thailand border, the focal area, between 1960 and 1989, of the conflict between communist terrorists belonging to the CPM and Malaysian and Thai security forces.
As Special Branch head at the time of accords with the CPM and as the government’s lead negotiator, Rahim should know the terms and conditions of the Hatyai agreement.
If there is anybody who can hold forth authoritatively on the contentious matter of whether Chin Peng had a right to come back to Malaysia and, now that he has died, have his ashes buried in his hometown of Sitiawan, it is Rahim.
Rahim said the government was in violation of the agreement when it barred Chin Peng from returning to Malaysia as the former Secretary General of the CPM desired and, when he was baulked, petitioned the Malaysian courts for recourse.
The courts upheld the government’s bar on Chin Peng’s return and now the government thumbs its nose further at the Hatyai accords by barring the entry of the CPM leader’s ashes.
Rahim believes in keeping his word
Rahim’s opinion that the government is behaving less than honourably is the more remarkable because he has appeared in recent years at public forums organised by Perkasa, the Malay right wing group that is prominent among the voices defending the government’s disbarment of Chin Peng.
At least, Rahim believes in keeping his word and in the government keeping theirs, but the NGO Rahim has seen fit to patronize does not.
Yes, the government has been far more unforgiving on the killings of MCP, notwithstanding the by-now-viewed-as-useless-or-dishonoured 1989 Haadyai Peace Treaty between the Malaysian government (signed by Mahathir) and the MCP.
But then what about MCP leaders like, for example, Syed Hamid Ali and Shamsiah Faekah who were allowed back into Malaysia to settle down as Malaysian citizens? Did they have still have identification papers showing their citizenship? Did they spilled Malaysian blood? Yet Ong Boon Hwa (Chin Peng) after his death could not even have his ashes buried in Sitiawan, his place of birth.
Yes, there have been those blatant double standards exhibited by Mahathir and his UMNO-led government in their treatment of Ong Boon Hwa, a Chinese former CT versus former CT Syed Hamid Ali and Shamsiah Faekah, and also Malay JI terrorists like mass murderers Azahari and Noordin Top.
Don't the above narration show our Mahathirised Malaysian government 'love affairs' with terrorists, mass murders and former CT (except for Chin Peng, wakakaka)? Oh, don't forget Thai convicted blackmailer Justo and Indian alleged money launderer Zakir Naik.
So all in all, balls to Mahathir and his kerbau-ish “I made promises to the people.
After the interview was published, Najib responded via Facebook.
“The essence of Tun Mahathir’s interview with Mkini is Najib, Najib, Najib.
“Turns out he wants to join PN, but I’m the obstacle.”
In the interview, Dr Mahathir did not discount the possibility of working with PN if leaders in the “court cluster” are not in the coalition.
“The essence of Tun Mahathir’s interview with Mkini is Najib, Najib, Najib.
“Turns out he wants to join PN, but I’m the obstacle.”
In the interview, Dr Mahathir did not discount the possibility of working with PN if leaders in the “court cluster” are not in the coalition.
kt notes: meaning the Old Devil is still available to be PN's PM, wakakaka
“Umno people can join Bersatu. There is no need for Umno anymore, because Umno’s name has been tainted.
“Najib is the killer of Umno. Najib destroyed Umno. His father built Umno, and he destroyed it. He has no shame at all for destroying his father’s heritage.”
kt notes: Actually the Old Devil is the ONLY one who destroyed UMNO not once BUT twice, in 1987 and 2018, wakakaka
+++++++++
kt notes:
The Mafulat-ish Machiavellian Mephistopheles had to say produce this stinking kerbau - his inflated ego couldn't stand the thought of being played out by Moo-Moo and Ass-binte. While he did love Ass-binte, it would be too much for his big-headed conceit to think that Moo-Moo, who he considers as a dullard, outwitted him in the PM-game, wakakaka.
And note that he hasn't given up his dreams of being PN's PM, with the kerbau excuse that the 'court cluster' are not part of the PN government. What a pompous super-egoistic dreamer and a humongous liar.
He is now being slowly and cruelly punished by his very own thinking, conceit, frustration and growing outrage - tough, sad but a very fitting end for his extreme cruelty to Anwar.
salute our very principled conman.
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