Ambiga willing to work with Mahathir to fix government

(The Star) – Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan (pic) is willing to work with former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad only if he is willing to fix the country’s system of government.

The former Bar Council President said this at the launch of the book “Malaysia Post-Mahathir: A Decade of Change at Sunway University” on Monday.

“If Dr Mahathir is concerned about what has happened over the past 30 years, if indeed he is trying to fix it as opposed to just kicking out one prime minister, then I think we should be open to working with anyone who is trying to do that,” said Ambiga.

She said that the whole system has to be changed beyond replacing Najib as Prime Minister.

Ambiga added that she saw things she had never expected to see after Dr Mahathir stepped down.

“I would never thought I would have seen Dr. Mahathir being investigated by the police, I never thought that I would see Dr Mahathir at Bersih,” said Ambiga.

She added that she never thought she would see Dr. Mahathir, Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz and many of the old guard coming out and lamenting abuses of power and the failure of Malaysian institutions.

Ambiga also commended the efforts made by the group of prominent Malays as they were made up of high profile individuals who were trying bring about change

She added however that she was sceptical as to whether anyone could get through to the present regime as to what is needed to make things change in this country.

Ambiga said that these individuals would be challenging a “fortress of power” created by Dr Mahathir who created a system where all power was concentrated in the hands of the prime minister

“I don’t just hold Najib responsible for our woes today, I hold the entire cabinet responsible for our woes today. They are supposed to run this country honestly and efficiently and that is something that is severely lacking,” said Ambiga.

“Mahathir Post-Mahathir: A Decade of Change” is being published by Singapore based Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Private Limited.

The book was edited by Professor James Chin of the University of Tasmania and  Prof Joern Dosch of the University of Rostock.