Mahathir Seems To Be Losing The Plot

By admin-s Last updated Aug 5, 2015

Tajuddin Rosli

When the 1MDB story unraveled, it was made to look like this scandal would be the nail in the coffin for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. Malaysians collectively took to social media and made various assumptions to the outcome of Najib’s premiership. The opposition saw it as the best opportunity to force Najib to resign or better still incite a vote of no confidence against Najib in parliament. Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad’s crooked bridge dream suddenly had a glimmer of hope after Najib put a stop to the project. Mahathir thought he could check-mate Najib to resignation and place his ‘own man’ on top of the helm.

Mahathir was back to his vocal best directing wave after wave of attack towards Najib. When Najib realized there was going to be no end to Mahathir’s attacks, Najib launched his own counter-attack. As they say, attack is the best form of defense. Ever since, Mahathir slowly but surely seems to be losing the plot. He often makes statements about decisions taken during his leadership that only makes sense to him and his goons. He sometimes sounds like a schizophrenic who contradicts even himself.

On emergence of the alleged misappropriation of funds involving 1MDB, Mahathir was aggressively questioning the ‘disappearance’ of RM 42 billion. A little later, he claims he did some maths and after considering some investments by 1MDB, RM 27 billion was still supposedly missing. Mahathir did not mention what are the investments he was referring to and who was his source of information. Ironically, DAP’s Tony Pua mentioned about the same investments by 1MDB and claims RM 28 billion was still unaccounted for. The numbers quoted by Mahathir and Tony differs by RM 1 billion. Later, Mahathir went back to his initial assumption that RM 42 billion is missing. He keeps mentioning different values that now nobody knows which is the correct number.

Mahathir made a mockery of himself by wrongly alleging that Tan Sri Pandikar Amin was unhappy with the current government and resigned as the Speaker of Dewan Rakyat. Pandikar condemned Mahathir for his ludicrous statement and refuted Mahathir’s claim.

Mahathir even went personal attacking Najib’s family and allege they live a lavish life. When NGOs questioned wealth of Mahathir’s sons, he denied they are billionaires. Mahathir was caught lying again as Forbes wealthiest people in the world list has Mokhzani Mahathir in it.

The sacking of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin together with 4 other members turned out to be a kick in the teeth for Mahathir. The sackings were hailed to be a bold move by Najib to remove Mahathir’s men from the former’s administration. While Mahathir claims he has majority of UMNO support with him who are unhappy with Najib, the sacking of only five individuals speaks otherwise. Najib has indirectly told the nation Mahathir had only five people supporting him. Mahathir now says that those who complained to him about Najib have made a U-turn and gone back to Najib’s side, an explanation similar to the one he gave when his claims involving Pandikar fell flat.

In a recent book launch, the always-in-denial Mahathir claimed during his leadership, media in Malaysia practiced “self-censorship as if they didn’t want to hurt leaders”. This statement of Mahathir takes the cake and makes Datuk Ahmad Maslan sound like a genius. In 1987, under the premiership of Mahathir, publishing permits of The Star, Sin Chew Jit Poh and Watan were revoked on commencement of Ops Lalang. Even foreign media faced the iron fist of Mahathir. The Far Eastern Economic Review and Asiaweek (Hong Kong-based magazine) and International Herald Tribune (Paris-based newspaper) were blacklisted during Mahathir’s tenure because his government deemed it ‘unsympathetic ‘towards the nation. Foreign media were often ridiculed by top government officials as they were accused of trying to topple Mahathir’s reign. Mirzan Mahathir went as far as filing a defamation suit against The Asian Wall Street Journal for alleging nepotism.

Every time Mahathir takes a swipe at Najib for his supposed wrong-doings, Mahathir should realize he was multiple folds worse. Maybe this is nature’s way of making Mahathir witness the damage he has caused to this beautiful country. Mahathir should start reflecting on himself before issuing any remarks because he definitely is coming across someone suffering from a malignancy of dementia.