Dr M: Anwar has ‘challenge’ syndrome
After mounting one challenge after another, the former premier says that Anwar ran out of opponents, and therefore targeted him.
(Free Malaysia Today) – Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has diagnosed his former heir apparent-turned-nemesis Anwar Ibrahim as suffering from an insatiable need to challenge people.
“He’s a very challenging person. He challenges everybody,” he told the 1,000-strong crowd which attended his book launch at the Midvalley Megamall here.
Explaining the chapter in book titled “Anwar’s challenges”, Mahathir said the opposition leader was too ambitious.
In the first year he joined Umno, the former premier said Anwar had vied for the Youth chief post.
“I told Suhaimi (Kamarudin) not to contest and make way for Anwar but Suhaimi did not agree to this. This was his first challenge.
“The second challenge was when I made a specific remark for Terengganu Umno where I told them it is time for the old to make way for younger leaders. He (Anwar) took it as a cue to challenge Ghafar (Baba, former deputy prime minister).
“After that, who else was there to challenge?” asked Mahathir, drawing laughter from the crowd. “He wanted to challenge me.”
As written in his book, Mahathir said that he was unfazed about Anwar’s challenge but admitted that the latter wielded “powerful” influence in Umno.
Mahathir said he was already prepared to step down and make way for Anwar but had to dismiss him from his post after finding out that he had “done something that I could not approve of”.
‘Anwar wanted sex with four women’
In his memoir entitled “A Doctor In The House”, Mahathir claimed that former inspector-general of police Hanif Omar was the one who informed him of Anwar’s alleged bisexual tendencies.
The current opposition leader was sacked as deputy premier in 1998 and later convicted of corruption and sodomy, charges which Anwar alleged were part of a high-level conspiracy to oust him.
Mahathir made various references to Anwar’s alleged promiscuous lifestyle including one incident where he supposedly arranged to have sex with four women.
The book further said that Anwar was hauled up before the Umno supreme council to explain and Mahathir wrote that the former deputy premier did not once deny he had bisexual tendencies.
Asked at a press conference later on how Anwar would react to the allegations in his book, Mahathir said he would not be surprised if the PKR supremo criticised him.
“I’m quite sure he has nothing good to say about it (my book). But he can say whatever he wants and he can claim everything we have today is his doing,” he said.
