Former prime minister and current PM Najib Razak’s most brazen critic, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, has said he is not afraid of being arrested by the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) over his attendance at the recent #BERSIH4 rally or the statements he made there.
“That’s their right and their duty. Arrest me. I have read in the newspapers about my possible arrest, so of course I will go,” the former premier told The Rakyat Post‘s Nawar Firdaus upon his arrival at Subang Skypark Terminal today.
“If police call you, you have to go. That’s the way it is in Malaysia. I don’t think they should but I will comply anyway.”
Even Dr M’s wife, Dr Siti Hasmah, seemed resigned to whatever fate might befall her husband in connection to his criticism of the sitting PM, saying that she has accepted that such risks were “part of politics and life”.
During his second trip to #BERSIH4 on the rally’s second day, Mahathir had alleged that the members of Parliament from UMNO and the ruling Malay party’s division chiefs had been bribed to throw their support behind Najib.
For the better part of the past year, Dr M has been one of Najib’s strongest detractors, calling for the current PM to step down over his alleged complicity in the scandals surrounding sovereign fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), and even supporting an Opposition-backed plan to table a bipartisan vote of no confidence against Najib in Parliament.
