Despite causing a furore over his (third) exit from ruling Malay party UMNO yesterday, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s resignation hasn’t been made official just yet, at least as far as party secretary-general Tengku Adnan Mansor is concerned.
According to Ku Nan, he hasn’t yet received a formal letter from Dr M stating his desire to resign from the party.
“I don’t know. I have not received the letter from him (Tun Dr Mahathir),” he told the New Straits Times Online when asked about the matter.
Still, Ku Nan doesn’t seem to think the nation’s longest-serving PM leaving UMNO will leave much of a dent on the party, which is facing intense pressure thanks to the links between its president, PM Najib Razak, and the ongoing scandals surrounding sovereign invesment fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and the matter of the RM2.6 billion transferred into Najib’s personal bank accounts in 2013. (The Wall Street Journal today further revealed the figure could top USD1 billion.)
Dr M announced he was leaving UMNO (again) yesterday, citing his loss of faith in the party he had led for decades,and saying that UMNO was no longer true to its founding principles, but rather existed solely to further Najib’s personal interests.
Mahathir previously left the party (or rather, was expelled) during the time of the nation’s first PM, Tunku Abdul Rahman, after clashes in ideology with Tunku. Dr M quit UMNO a second time in 2008, in protest against his successor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s lackluster performance as PM and UMNO president.
