Mahathir has least right to use Save Malaysia
The Najib pounding started before 1MDB became contentious, and the RM2.6 billion was non-existent.
Lee Yew Meng, The Malay Mail Online
I thought it undue tribute to say that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad “drove Tun Abdullah Badawi out of office”.
In 2004, the electorate celebrated Mahathir’s stepping down, and gave Abdullah an overwhelming mandate to effect changes. Then the reforms fell short, with the non-implementation of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) often cited as his single biggest failing. The second was the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC), which provided good reading but didn’t serve society, when it remained the prime minister’s call.
These are arguably the two most critical instruments essential for good governance but Abdullah let pass. Abdullah didn’t live up to the enthusiastic expectations of the 2004 voters and BN got punished in 2008.
I was told Abdullah felt deep personal responsibility for 2008. And as he was nearing 70, and had just remarried in 2007, he decided it was time to pack up. He exemplified the “old school”, where dignity and honour count. I will concede that Mahathir’s hounding could have caused Abdullah’s retirement to be brought forward a few months, but certainly he didn’t drive our fifth prime minister out of office!
And it assuredly wasn’t prompted by his concern for BN’s polls performance; but rather the “crooked bridge” he was denied.
Trying to rewrite his legacy
In 2006, Mahathir in seeking to be a general assembly delegate from his Kubang Pasu division was placed ninth out of 15 contestants. Only the first seven were selected. He had planned to “speak up” but was dashed. Don’t we wonder how a 22-year prime minister who spent 30 years in the division can be snubbed just three years into retirement? Could he have been so disliked … but feared, or that “money politics” during his time, actually did him in?
