After Najib, it’s now Pak Lah’s turn to be accused of being a thief by Dr Mahathir
By Nehru Sathiamoorthy
IF you remember, in 2015 when the relationship between Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Datuk Seri Najib Razak became strained, Mahathir will claim that it was because Najib told him that “cash is king” that their relationship became strained.
Mahathir claimed that in his last meeting with the former premier before their fallout, Najib had defended his methods by declaring that “cash is king”.
The “cash is king” argument is what Mahathir will apply against Najib in his crusade against the incarcerated 71-year-old, which would lead to his downfall in 2018.
According to Mahathir, it was because Najib was applying the “cash is king” principle that Najib had become embroiled in the 1MDB scandal.
Although Najib admitted that he did mention that “cash is king” to Mahathir, he said Mahathir had misunderstood what he meant.
According to Najib, when he said that “cash is king”, he did not mean that he wanted to bribe people to support him.
Instead, when he said “cash is king” to Mahathir, he only meant that the government should give the people cash, in the form of BR1M, for them to decide for themselves what they wanted to do with the money.
Ten years after the “cash is king” episode, Mahathir is back again with a different target, this time Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, more fondly known as Pak Lah, whom Mahathir had called “unethical”.
Mahathir claimed that Pak Lah’s son Kamaluddin had told his son that it was their “turn” to steal money or enrich themselves using their fathers’ political positions.
Kamaluddin Abdullah, naturally, had categorically denied the claim and said Mahathir was “obviously very upset and very angry with many things and many people”.
Personally, I don’t understand why everybody from Najib to Kamaluddin is confessing to Mahathir or his family members about their depravities and excesses as if Mahathir and his family members have always been honest and upright.
Logically speaking, shouldn’t a depraved person only discuss their dodgy dealings and debauched desires with someone as depraved as themselves?
If you are a thief and you have stolen something or wish to steal something, why would you go and talk about it to an honest and upright person, who is likely going to look down on you for it, or worse, get you in trouble after you confess your actions or desires to them?
Najib and Pak Lah were also people that Mahathir knew for decades. If Najib and Pak Lah were truly as debauched as Mahathir claims them to be, how come Mahathir never knew it until much later?
No one goes from being an honest minister until their 50s and then suddenly becoming corrupt and wicked only when they become the prime minister in their 60s.
If you follow Mahathir’s logic, there were no signs that Najib or Pak Lah had given in to corruption or wickedness when they were serving as ministers under him but had gone over to the dark side when they become prime ministers.
Not only were they wicked and corrupt but they were also proud of it too, because they would boast about it to people like Mahathir and his son, although according to Mahathir, he and his son are honest and upright people.
You have to be quite proud and boastful to be corrupt and wicked and then boast about your corruption and wickedness to an honest and upright person.
When Mahathir was prime minister, he accused his then deputy, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, of corruption. After Anwar, he would accuse two of the successors that he himself picked, Najib and Pak Lah, of being corrupt too.
It is as if Mahathir is saying that everybody around him is corrupt, except him.
It is as if although he is an upright and honest person, he didn’t have an inkling that the people around him were corrupt, although he knew them for decades.
They on the other hand, at least from what he is saying about Najib and Pak Lah, seem to think that he was one of them, because they were blatantly confessing or even boasting to him about their excesses and debauchery.
Mahathir’s children, by the way, are also extremely rich with two of them becoming billionaires in a short period of time, although Mahathir is very confident that his sons were able to achieve such extraordinary feats through legitimate means.
I have always found it astonishing that Mahathir, who is famous for his rational and realistic outlook, has never found it suspicious that his children could accumulate such a great amount of wealth in a short period of time.
Personally, I find Mahathir’s version of the story to be unconvincing, to say the least.
If everybody around Mahathir is corrupt, Mahathir needs to ask himself whether what he believes about himself is true.
If Mahathir truly believes that he is an upright and honest as he seems to suggest, then he has to ask himself, why doesn’t he attract honest and upright people? – Jan 17, 2025
Nehru Sathiamoorthy is a roving tutor who loves politics, philosophy and psychology.
IF you remember, in 2015 when the relationship between Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Datuk Seri Najib Razak became strained, Mahathir will claim that it was because Najib told him that “cash is king” that their relationship became strained.
Mahathir claimed that in his last meeting with the former premier before their fallout, Najib had defended his methods by declaring that “cash is king”.
The “cash is king” argument is what Mahathir will apply against Najib in his crusade against the incarcerated 71-year-old, which would lead to his downfall in 2018.
According to Mahathir, it was because Najib was applying the “cash is king” principle that Najib had become embroiled in the 1MDB scandal.
Although Najib admitted that he did mention that “cash is king” to Mahathir, he said Mahathir had misunderstood what he meant.
According to Najib, when he said that “cash is king”, he did not mean that he wanted to bribe people to support him.
Instead, when he said “cash is king” to Mahathir, he only meant that the government should give the people cash, in the form of BR1M, for them to decide for themselves what they wanted to do with the money.
Ten years after the “cash is king” episode, Mahathir is back again with a different target, this time Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, more fondly known as Pak Lah, whom Mahathir had called “unethical”.
Mahathir claimed that Pak Lah’s son Kamaluddin had told his son that it was their “turn” to steal money or enrich themselves using their fathers’ political positions.
Kamaluddin Abdullah, naturally, had categorically denied the claim and said Mahathir was “obviously very upset and very angry with many things and many people”.
Personally, I don’t understand why everybody from Najib to Kamaluddin is confessing to Mahathir or his family members about their depravities and excesses as if Mahathir and his family members have always been honest and upright.
Logically speaking, shouldn’t a depraved person only discuss their dodgy dealings and debauched desires with someone as depraved as themselves?
If you are a thief and you have stolen something or wish to steal something, why would you go and talk about it to an honest and upright person, who is likely going to look down on you for it, or worse, get you in trouble after you confess your actions or desires to them?
Najib and Pak Lah were also people that Mahathir knew for decades. If Najib and Pak Lah were truly as debauched as Mahathir claims them to be, how come Mahathir never knew it until much later?
No one goes from being an honest minister until their 50s and then suddenly becoming corrupt and wicked only when they become the prime minister in their 60s.
If you follow Mahathir’s logic, there were no signs that Najib or Pak Lah had given in to corruption or wickedness when they were serving as ministers under him but had gone over to the dark side when they become prime ministers.
Not only were they wicked and corrupt but they were also proud of it too, because they would boast about it to people like Mahathir and his son, although according to Mahathir, he and his son are honest and upright people.
You have to be quite proud and boastful to be corrupt and wicked and then boast about your corruption and wickedness to an honest and upright person.
When Mahathir was prime minister, he accused his then deputy, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, of corruption. After Anwar, he would accuse two of the successors that he himself picked, Najib and Pak Lah, of being corrupt too.
It is as if Mahathir is saying that everybody around him is corrupt, except him.
It is as if although he is an upright and honest person, he didn’t have an inkling that the people around him were corrupt, although he knew them for decades.
They on the other hand, at least from what he is saying about Najib and Pak Lah, seem to think that he was one of them, because they were blatantly confessing or even boasting to him about their excesses and debauchery.
Mahathir’s children, by the way, are also extremely rich with two of them becoming billionaires in a short period of time, although Mahathir is very confident that his sons were able to achieve such extraordinary feats through legitimate means.
I have always found it astonishing that Mahathir, who is famous for his rational and realistic outlook, has never found it suspicious that his children could accumulate such a great amount of wealth in a short period of time.
Personally, I find Mahathir’s version of the story to be unconvincing, to say the least.
If everybody around Mahathir is corrupt, Mahathir needs to ask himself whether what he believes about himself is true.
If Mahathir truly believes that he is an upright and honest as he seems to suggest, then he has to ask himself, why doesn’t he attract honest and upright people? – Jan 17, 2025
Nehru Sathiamoorthy is a roving tutor who loves politics, philosophy and psychology.
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