In an apparent retort to former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s recent statements on her daughter, Yammy Samat, mother of Teluk Intan by-election candidate Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud of the DAP, compared Dyana Sofya to one of Dr Mahathir’s children – the one infamous for not keeping in line with UMNO talking points.
Yammy, an UMNO member since she was 18, said she had raised Dyana Sofya to be like Dr Mahathir’s son Mukhriz, also an UMNO man and now Menteri Besar of Kedah, but her stong-willed daughter chose a different path for herself.
“I tried my very best to bring up Dyana to be like Mukhriz, but when she grew up, she turned out to be like Marina,” Yammy told The Malay Mail Online in an interview.
“So it doesn’t matter. She became like one of Tun’s children anyway,” the 59-year-old added, in her message to the former prime minister.
Datuk Paduka Marina Mahathir is known to be an oft-time vocal opponent of many UMNO and BN policies and tactics, and has given her support to many initiatives and organizations deemed unsavoury or even illegal by the ruling government, such as the Bersih 2.0 coalition.
Dr Mahathir was reported to have expressed his disappointment on Monday over Dyana Sofya’s political decision to align herself with the DAP, seeing that she was raised in a family of UMNO supporters. He went on to say that if UMNO members did not educate their children on the party’s histpry and contributions to the nation and the Malays, these children would drift away.
Yammy also hadd choice words for Datuk Seri Sharizat Abdul Jalil, who had urged Dyana Sofya, a graduate of the Malay-centric Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), not to betray UMNO.
“It’s Shahrizat who’s the traitor,” she said, citing the RM250 million National Feedlot Centre (NFC) scandal that former minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil was embroiled in.
The Umno member questioned the logic of labelling Dyana Sofya a traitor to the Malays, pointing out that BN had appointed a Chinese — Gerakan president Datuk Mah Siew Keong — to contest Teluk Intan, while the DAP had chosen a Malay candidate.
“You say ‘hidup Melayu’, but you put a Chinese candidate,” said Yammy, using the Malay phrase for “Long live the Malays”.
“My daughter has the freedom to join politics as she wishes,” said Yammy.
“I ask all my friends in UMNO to think about this carefully: My daughter is your daughter too,” she added.
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