Mahathir beginning to go on defensive mode

By MT Webmaster Last updated May 28, 2016

Mahathir knows that the tide is turning and to arrest his declining fortunes he needs to salvage the situation by turning this whole thing into a ‘Rakyat versus Najib’ affair instead of ‘Mahathir versus Najib’. Mahathir is now cowering and hiding behind the rakyat, the same people he showed disdain for when he was in power for 22 years.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

In Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s latest blog posting two days ago (The Citizens vs Najib), he appears quite defensive and it looks like he is trying to explain or justify his actions. This is quite a change of mode from his high and mighty stance earlier where he tried to give an impression that he was speaking from a position of the moral high ground.

Over the last one year he preached to us like he was a Prophet delivering a message from God. We must listen. We must believe. We must accept. We must not question. Prophets do not need to explain. Prophets cannot be wrong. Prophets represent God and speak on behalf of God.

Mahathir appears to have lost some of that confidence and arrogance. Does he now realise his audience is thinning and is becoming unbelieving? Is he seeing his so-called ‘Save Malaysia’ campaign crumbling before his very eyes?

The news item below from Free Malaysia Today reveals that Mahathir is now pleading. He is beginning to show signs of desperation and is going down on his hands and knees and is no longer towering above us. He knows he no longer has a captive audience and will need to do some hard selling. But the buyer is not as gullible as Mahathir had thought one year ago.

The key message in that winding narration (The Citizens vs Najib) is that he is not working for or is supporting the opposition. He works for the rakyat or citizens of Malaysia. He speaks on behalf of Malaysians and for no one else. He only has the interest of 30 million Malaysians at heart. But in the same breath he is asking the voters to not vote Umno-Barisan Nasional but vote opposition instead.

Mahathir tries to give his cause a noble image by explaining that he resigned from Umno. So that means he has no political motives. He resigned from Umno because he realised that Umno does not support him. So he hopes that he could get the opposition to support him instead. But if he remained in Umno the opposition would not support him. And that was why he resigned from Umno.

And now Mahathir says he does not want to bring down the government. He only wants to bring down the Prime Minister. But then the opposition wants to bring down the government. The opposition has made it very clear that they want Umno and Barisan Nasional kicked out and replaced with a DAP-led Pakatan Harapan government.

So how do you reconcile the fact that Mahathir, who does not want to bring down Umno and Barisan Nasional, is leading a group of people who want to bring down Umno and Barisan Nasional? And did Mahathir himself not say that to bring down the Prime Minister you have to first make sure that Umno and Barisan Nasional lose the election?

When you urge Malaysians to reject the government, defeat the government, bring down the government, etc., and vote the opposition into office, what do you call that? Do you not call that an anti-government movement? So how can you still say this is not an anti-government or anti-Umno-BN movement but just an anti-Najib movement? How can you equate opposition to citizens and government to mean anti-citizen? Are only opposition supporters considered citizens of Malaysia?

Is the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria correct, then, when it says if you oppose them then you oppose God and you deserve to die? The government, in turn says that the Islamic State is not doing God’s work. But then the government itself has killed 60,000 people in prison while under torture. Is torturing and killing 60,000 prisoners considered doing God’s work?

Yes, both sides claim the moral high ground. Both sides claim a virtuous and noble cause. What difference is this to Mahathir who claims he is fighting for the rakyat against Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak who Mahathir alleges stole RM2.6 billion of 1MDB’s money?

A man like Mahathir who wasted an estimated RM200 billion of the rakyat’s money, RM100 billion of that which he is still keeping under trustees, nominees and proxies, has not earned the moral right and the legitimacy to speak on behalf of the rakyat. Which rakyat is he talking about anyway? Is he talking about his son who he wants to make Prime Minister — because he is certainly not representing me?

Mahathir is hiding behind the rakyat’s name and is trying to give an impression that he speaks on behalf of 30 million Malaysians. Yes, and the Islamic State also claims it is speaking on behalf of one billion Muslim rakyat as they murder those they consider enemies of Allah. Mahathir represents 30 million Malaysian rakyat as much as the Islamic State represents the one billion Muslims all over this world.

The truth is, Anwar Ibrahim’s letter from prison earlier this week has hurt the Citizens’ Declaration or Deklarasi Rakyat as well as the ‘Save Malaysia’ campaign. And with many opposition leaders, the late Karpal Singh’s son included, who had remained silent over the last year but are now speaking up and are rejecting Mahathir as the de facto Opposition Leader, this has put the old man in a spot.

For example, Mahathir claims he has more than one million signatures on a petition that he is going to personally hand over to His Majesty the Agong. However, Mahathir has thus far failed to get an audience with the Agong and to cover this embarrassment he is saying that the Agong is under house arrest.

How many of the other opposition leaders have responded to Mahathir’s ‘the Agong is under house arrest’ comment? Are not the other opposition leaders also involved in the Citizens’ Declaration or Deklarasi Rakyat as well?

So, if Mahathir is not able to hand deliver the petition with more than one million signatures to the Agong because His Majesty is under house arrest, why are all the other opposition leaders keeping very quiet and are not saying a word? What they are doing and the photograph below does not seem to dovetail.

And have you noticed one thing that is most alarming to Mahathir? Not a single person has mentioned Mukhriz’s name. And the fact that no one has mentioned Mukhriz’s name is because as far as everyone is concerned he is not an acceptable candidate for Prime Minister. And this is the main thing that is troubling Mahathir.

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Mahathir: BN must be defeated in by-elections

(FMT, 20 May 2016) – Former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad does not rule out the possibility that PAS may go through the motions of naming candidates for the two by-elections in June, and in the absence of a third candidate, pull out to allow Barisan Nasional (BN) to win unopposed.

“We should not be surprised if this happens,” alleged Mahathir in his latest blog posting. “PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang has accepted Najib although the whole world knows the Prime Minister is a very corrupt person.”

“It’s because of Hadi’s stand that PAS has splintered and continues to face divisions.”

In explaining why it was important to defeat BN in Kuala Kangsar and Sungai Besar, Mahathir said, “Najib should not be allowed to win the two by-elections. Otherwise, he will claim that the people accept him as the Prime Minister.”

“He has already done that after the Sarawak state election on May 7. In fact, it was Adenan Satem who won the election, not Najib.”

The coming parliamentary by-elections, ventured Mahathir, were between the people and Najib. “It’s not a contest of parties.”

“That’s why it’s important to defeat Najib in the by-elections. BN losing would mean the victory of the people over the Najib regime.”

He urged the people to support whoever stands against BN in the two by-elections. He fears, at the same time, that if more than one candidate represents the Opposition, the votes on their side would be split, allowing BN to win by default. “PAS placing a candidate will also help BN if the people place another candidate to fight both the two parties.”

Nevertheless, continued Mahathir, If PAS was serious about fighting BN in the by-elections, the people should give the Islamists the benefit of the doubt and vote for them. He agrees that should PAS win, it will just be a slave to BN which has much more MPs in Parliament.

Mahathir was reiterating his position that the activities being organized to topple Najib was a people’s movement and not one monopolized by any political party. Once Najib is toppled, he argued, democracy will be restored and the respective political parties can once against pursue their agenda. “The people can decide who they can support and who will lead the nation.”

He was warning against Najib dismissing the move to topple him as one led by the Opposition. “It’s not. This is a people’s movement.”

“The signatories of the Citizens’ Declaration are ordinary people, mostly not members of any political parties.”

Najib, charged Mahathir, was also trying to make it seem as if he had joined the Opposition although it was not true. “He disregarded the fact that the Declaration was made not in the name of opposition political parties but in the name of the citizens of Malaysia.”

“I am in this movement as a citizen, not as a member of any party. I have not joined any party.”

The citizens do not call for the overthrow of the government but only for Najib to be removed as Prime Minister, assured Mahathir. “When Najib is expelled, BN will still continue to be in power. It can go on to choose a new Prime Minister.”

Raja Petra Kamarudin RPK