Blame Dr M if Umno falls, says Mubarak

(The Rakyat Post) – If anyone is to blame for Umno’s downfall, it would be Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, as he has jeopordised the harmony in the party.

In stating so, Malaysian Council of Former Elected Representatives (Mubarak) president Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman blamed the former Prime Minister for “ruining Umno”.

“If it is true Dr Mahathir loves Umno, he would have acted in a more ‘family’ way instead of attacking them,” he said when contacted by The Rakyat Post.

Abdul Aziz said he would not be surprised if there was a decline in support for Umno after Dr Mahathir’s attacks on current Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, which according to him, had threatened the party.

He said this in response to Dr Mahathir’s remarks that Umno would “disappear” if the current scenario plaguing the party was not settled in a good way.

Malaysia’s fourth Prime Minister said this at a forum entitled, “My Most Dangerous Idea”, yesterday.

According to Abdul Aziz, Dr Mahathir should have been able to make a decision on who was best to succeed him as the premier, after being at the helm for 22 years.

“This issue would not arise if he had managed to prepare the ‘template’ on who should succeed him, mould them so that they could become great leaders.

“We all know Pak Lah’s leadership was only for one term and now he is saying that Najib has failed to lead the country,” he said alluding to the nation’s fifth Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Dr Mahathir, he added, kept pointing fingers at others, but the fact was it was “the previous leaders’ fault” because they failed to “mould” their successors.

Dr Mahahtir has turned into one of Najib’s most strident critics,  taking the latter to task over 1Malaysia Development Berhad, among others.

This is not the first time Dr Mahahtir had voiced out against his successors. He had previously criticised Abdullah’s administration.