Nazri: Dr M put himself in danger by speaking out

“We provided him an escort for his safety. Instead, he chooses to put himself in danger. So, I think we shouldn’t be responsible any more for his safety.”

(FMT) – The decision to withdraw police escorts for Dr Mahathir Mahathir was “long overdue” because the former premier had placed himself in danger by speaking out against the government, according to Umno Supreme Council member Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz.

Nazri said Dr Mahathir was expected to behave like an “elderly statesman”.

“He has to behave that way. We provided him an escort for his safety. Instead, he chooses to put himself in danger. So, I think we shouldn’t be responsible any more for his safety,” he said to reporters during a walkabout in Pantai Damai constituency here.

Nazri, who is tourism and culture minister, was here to help the Barisan Nasional election campaign in the constituency. Abdul Rahman Junaidi (BN-PBB) seeks re-election in Pantai Damai for a third term. His opponent is Zainal Abidin Yepni of PAS.

He said the decision to withdraw the police outriders for Dr Mahathir was long overdue. “It should’ve been done before. We don’t want to be responsible towards him (Dr M) if he chooses to place himself in an endangering position,” he said.

For more than a year Dr Mahathir has led a campaign against Umno president and Prime Minister Najib Razak, seeking his removal from office. He left Umno in February and joined hands with opposition politicians and activists in the Save Malaysia campaign against Najib.

Nazri said Dr Mahathir’s campaign speeches might hurt the feelings of certain quarters as “this might prompt unfavourable reactions by certain people”.

Nazri hoped that the former premier would eventually realise that his actions against the government did no good for the country.

“If he chooses to go ahead, I think it’s about time (for the withdrawal of the escorts).

When asked by reporters whether it was part of Dr Mahathir’s privileges as a former premier to be provided police outriders, Nazri said: “It’s not logical, why are we giving privileges to someone who’s slamming us back.”

Nazri said if Dr Mahathir carried on punching, “we will punch with him”, adding: “I’m ready to go punching with him any time.”