Dr M to Najib: I didn’t bring a weapon, I can’t do anything

(Malay Mail Online) – Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today questioned if Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who had declared himself a “warrior”, was afraid to confront him after the latter decided not to show up at today’s forum on 1Malaysia Development Bhd.

Najib made a last minute decision not to attend a townhall meeting organised by lawyers group SukaGuam where Dr Mahathir had also made a surprise appearance, citing “security concerns”.

“I am an ordinary man, I cant do anything to anybody why should people be afraid of me?

“It is not like I brought a weapon with me,” the country’s longest serving prime minister told a press conference held after the forum was abruptly ended by the police.

Dr Mahathir stressed that Najib missed the opportunity to regain lost support by failing to attend today’s forum.

“He lost an opportunity to win over support for himself, to explain everything… no money is missing, or if what Arul said was true, he has that opportunity (to explain) but he miss that opportunity,” the former prime minister said.

Dr Mahathir was referring to 1MDB’s RM42 billion debt which is said to be unaccounted for.

Earlier today, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar issued an order on Twitter for the forum to be shut down in the interest of public order.

But despite the order, Dr Mahathir’s supporters insisted that they allow the former prime minister speak to participants of the forum, which later led to a commotion at the entrance of the Tun Hussein Hall A as his followers pushed through the blockade to get Dr Mahathir in.

Immediately after he was allowed on stage, Dr Mahathir spoke to the audience and explained why he had attended today’s forum.

“This is not about Najib and me, this is about all of us. About the thing that belongs to all of us,” the country’s longest-serving prime minister said, referring to the 1MDB scandal.

But half way through, police immediately came up the stage and told Dr Mahathir to stop.

The organisers later revealed that Najib had decided against coming for the forum after he was advised not to by the IGP out of security concerns.

Dr Mahathir also took the opportunity to ridicule Najib’s boasts of public support, saying the reaction to his absence at today’s forum clearly showed otherwise.

“Umno always turn up when there is a gathering of 20,00 people, 30,000 people, they all say I love you, I love PM, I support you, you are not alone, so they must be supporting.

“But the last election as you know..the chinese community came up (to his event) 70,000 but he didnt get one single vote,” he said.

SukaGuam president Datuk Khairul Anwar Rahmat said the police had ordered the event cancelled due to the group’s inability to handle the large number of attendees.

There were also talks that the police had supposedly received intelligence information that someone was planning to cause a commotion at the forum.