Ku Li slams Dr M’s book

By Isabelle Lai, The Star

PETALING JAYA: Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s controversial best-selling autobiography, A Doctor in the House, has been slammed as full of “comedianship” and “political lying” by Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.

Tengku Razaleigh, or Ku Li as he is popularly known, refuted the allegations against him in the book, which accused him of leading the Team B faction in a dirty campaign which involved money politics during the 1987 Umno elections.

“As Allah is my witness, I have not done those things. I never steal. I never cheat,” he said in his speech before launching the book “Wang Gungwu, Junzi Scholar-Gentleman” on Friday night.

He said he did not have the kind of money to spend on the campaign, referring to Mahathir’s allegations that about RM20mil was spent on the campaign, with most of the money provided by Tengku Razaleigh himself.

“I do not have that sort of money. I have no cronies. In fact, I am against money politics,” he said.

He also said political lying was pervasive in Malaysia’s political atmosphere today.

“Unfortunately, I do not have remedies in this country to challenge fabrication and political lying,” he said, adding that the lack of a legal remedy to this problem spoke volumes about the country’s political reality.

Tengku Razaleigh is the second person to have refuted claims made in Dr Mahathir’s memoirs after Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim accused the former prime minister of suffering from “selective amnesia.”

In his speech, he also described Wang Gungwu’s book as that reflecting a “scholar with intellectual honesty.”

“A rare commodity these days, particularly in the political atmosphere that we face today in Malaysia where political lying has become pervasive.

“Political lying comes through the media and sometimes, by writing so-called books of memories,” he said in obvious reference to Dr Mahathir’s memoirs.

He said the memoirs – launched under the “pseudo title” of “Doctor In The House” – was a copycat title of a famous British comedy film of the 1950 based on another novel.

“Perhaps it was deliberate, as it does reflect some comedianship, apart from political lying,” he said, addding that the allegations made by Dr Mahathir were “not new”.