Democracy means you can’t force your view on others, former Sabah CM tells Dr M

(Rakyat Post) – While Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has every right to voice his views, he has no right to force the current leaders to accept it, a former Sabah Chief Minister said.

Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak in his blog today, wrote that this was the reality of democracy.

“Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has a different view and this must be respected by all including Tun M,” he wrote, referring to the affectionate term used to describe Mahathir.

Salleh said when Dr Mahathir was the Prime Minister, not all of the latter’s decisions were agreed upon by party members, yet they continued to support it on the principle of respecting the decisions of “the number 1”.

The Sabah speaker explained that this included the rotation system for the chief minister’s post in the state.

“In the end we accepted it, despite not agreeing with it.”

Salleh said while Umno members respected Dr Mahathir as a statesmen, his views and approaches may have been suitable during his time, but not for this era.

Thus, if a choice had to be made between Dr Mahathir and the country’s current “number 1”, there is no question that it had to be Najib for the continuity.

Salleh pointed out that Dr Mahathir himself said he had met with Najib to explain his position,  which meant that the Prime Minister did not agree wholeheartedly, which was not wrong.

“It is clear that the attacks on Najib by Tun M stems from a personal agenda. And in seeing the criticisms, the opposition is cheering.”