Under fire from Dr M, Round 2?

(The Straits Times) – With more than 65,000 votes and counting, a poll uploaded on former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's blog is quickly becoming a headache for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's administration.

Dr Mahathir started the poll two days ago to gather public opinion to prove his point that Malaysians are against the government's move to scrap his policy to teach maths and science in English. More than 85 per cent supported him.

A day later, a still annoyed Dr Mahathir gave his assessment of Najib's performance during his first 100 days in office, saying it was “more negatives than positives”.

He also listed oil giant Petronas' revenues year by year, asking the government to explain how the money had been spent. As he must have known the answer, the intention was clearly to plant an idea that the revenues could be in jeopardy.

The needling was quite an irony as Najib had in the past been labelled a Mahathirite who took his cue from Malaysia's longest-serving prime minister. But Najib has gone his own way.

The PM has so far avoided comment, so clearly he is still hoping to avoid a collision course with his one-time mentor. Najib's supporters say the premier does not want open confrontation and that he believes the situation can still be managed.

The Sunday Times understands that Dr Mahathir has made known his disagreement personally to Najib. According to a top Umno leader who is close to Najib, the former premier was unhappy over the measures to liberalise the economy, including removing the quota on Malay corporate ownership, and the proposal to build a third bridge to Singapore.

Dr Mahathir was, of course, also unhappy over the scrapping of the policy on teaching maths and science in English.

As it has yet to develop into a clash, Umno leaders are hoping to avoid a second round of bruising attacks. The first took place about a year after Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi became prime minister, when Dr Mahathir began sniping at him.

It shook Umno badly as Dr Mahathir relentlessly fanned the image of Abdullah as an incapable and hapless leader. Many blamed the attacks for creating a situation ripe for the Barisan Nasional's stunning losses in last year's general election.

Raja Ahmad Zainuddin, a Perak Umno leader, said the party needed to be united. But, he added, he was confident that Dr Mahathir was mindful of this, and believed his criticisms have been sincere.

“He has a right to criticise, but if it's a personal attack, that's a different story. I believe he won't,” he said.

Najib's aides have privately said the same thing — that the PM respects Dr Mahathir's views and is prepared to accept criticism of his policies, but hopes that it will not turn personal.

With Abdullah, Dr Mahathir's attacks had also begun with his policies. Later, however, he took personal potshots, poking fun at his hand-picked successor for allegedly sleeping on the job and attacking his family members.

Some Umno leaders think that Dr Mahathir will not go this far this time, partly because his son Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir is part of the government as deputy minister for international trade and industry.

A more pertinent reason, perhaps, is that Umno may begin to lose patience with a second battle between premier and predecessor. It may not take well to its president coming under fire yet again.

However, as political analyst Shamsul Amri Baharuddin said, even if Dr Mahathir took his attacks further, the severity of the damage may be contained if Najib continued to adopt the right measures.

He pointed out that Najib's approval rating has shot up to 65 per cent from 42 per cent when he started out as PM.

“Dr Mahathir is respected but the relevance of the attacks will be reduced and the sting minimised if Najib continues to perform well,” he said.