Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia’s longest-serving prime minister and vociferous critic of sitting PM Najib Razak, apologised today for his poor choice in successors to the highest public office in the land.
Speaking at a public lecture in Seri Iskandar, Perak titled “Social Evolution in Malaysia: What Next?”, the former PM was asked if he had evaluated the leadership qualities of his chosen successors – Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Najib – before retiring in 2003.
“Manalah saya tahu waktu pilih, saya minta ampun, minta maaflah pada semua (How did I know when I made the choice, I am sorry and apologise to all),” he said in reply, as quoted by The Malaysian Insider‘s Ista Kyra Sharmugam.
Without explicitly naming Abdullah and Najib, Mahathir continued to take veiled shots at the men who replaced him as Prime Minister and UMNO President.
“We can only guess, when someone is known as ‘Mr Clean’, we choose lah, but once he entered the arena, he became dirty.
“So I tried to find a cleaner replacement, who knew, this new guy’s idea (would be) ‘cash is king’ and if you give people money, they will like you.”
Abdullah, affectionately known as Pak Lah, was given the nickname ‘Mr Clean’ due to his ostensibly sterling public service record.
Najib has become famous as the Prime Minister who instituted BR1M, or the 1Malaysia People’s Assistance cash handouts. He is also at the epicentre of the scandal surronding sovereign fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MBD), said to be RM42 billion in debt, and the mysterious transfer of some USD700 million (RM2.6 billion) into Najib’s personal bank accounts in 2013.
Mahathir’s answer drew cheers and laughter from the audience of some 4,000 people.
Another audience member, identifying himself as belonging to a senior citizens’ group and also an UMNO member, asked Dr M if former deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s removal from Najib’s Cabinet was an indirect result of Mahathir’s own tenure as PM.
When he helmed the government, Mahathir went through three DPMs: Musa Hitam, Ghafar Baba, and Anwar Ibrahim, before settling on Abdullah prior to his retirement.
Mahathir chose to answer the question by focusing on Muhyiddin’s seeming lack of wrongdoing, hence there being no reason for his removal.
“As the deputy, Muhyiddin had to ask but then… as the deputy you must be careful.
“But I think Umno members prefer if Muhyiddin remained as the deputy prime minister.
“What wrong has he done? Didn’t steal money, don’t have RM2.6 billion.”
