Dr M out of line with criticisms on BR1M
Salleh Keruak says it does seem that everything Najib does is wrong in the eyes of Mahathir.
(Free Malaysia Today) – After giving prime minister Najib Razak a tongue lashing over the gross mismanagement of the 1Malaysia Development Board (1MDB) recently, former premier Mahathir Mohamad has now criticised Najib over the BR1M handout to low-income earners, saying it was a form of bribery.
In his latest blog entry, former Sabah chief minister Salleh Keruak commented on this, saying that while criticism was something all democracies had to “tolerate”, what was actually needed was “constructive criticism”.
Summing up Mahathir’s remarks over BR1M as “a case of damned if you do and damned if you don’t”, Salleh explained how Najib could not do nothing right in the eyes of Mahathir.
He wrote, “Soon after the 2013 general election, Dr Mahathir accused the Prime Minister of pandering too much to the Chinese and of not giving enough attention to the Malays, who form the backbone of Umno’s support.”
Salleh noted however that despite Najib making amends by giving out BR1M payments to the poor, Mahathir had condemned this initiative as a form of bribery instead.
“Now, when the Prime Minister introduces BRIM, which goes to the needy, and hence benefits the Malays since more of them are amongst the needy group, the Prime Minister is accused of an attempt to bribe the people,” Salleh wrote in a direct hit at Mahathir.
