Is Tun M senile, asks Zahid
(The Sun Daily) – Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi wants former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to stop talking about issues otherwise he will be labelled as being senile.
“I am of the opinion that it is better for him to shut his mouth before he is called a senile, this is my statement,” he added.
He was commenting on a press statement by Mahathir that Ahmad Zahid once declared that he had RM230 million when he (Ahmad Zahid) was Umno Youth chief.
Mahathir said he did ask Ahmad Zahid where the money came from but Ahmad Zahid told him that it was from his business.
“If it is profit from doing business, just do business, don’t become a people’s representative or deputy prime minister,” he had said during a press conference after giving a keynote address at a colloquium on 1Malaysia Develoment Berhad (1MDB) here today.
The former Umno president was commenting on Ahmad Zahid’s statement recently that the party is willing to accept the seasoned politician back into Umno if he recants his smear campaign against Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak.
“I was very lenient to him during his reign as Umno Youth chief as he accused me of wrongdoings including awarding projects to my friends which everyone knows is not true.
“But during that time, I didn’t expel him from the party,” he said, adding that the situation now is different where any dissent against the government may result in arrest.
Meanwhile, in JOHOR BARU, Bernama reports Pulai Umno division chief Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed as saying that Mahathir’s decision to campaign against Barisan Nasional in the Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar by-elections is an act of deceit to Umno and BN.
“I do not know the rationale for his action, the act is a betrayal to the party and his legacy as the prime minister of the country for 22 years.
“Nobody must forget that what we are enjoying today are the fruits of his labour for 22 years and if all that is destroyed due to his ‘betrayal’ it will also be a legacy left behind by him,” Nur Jazlan said.
Nur Jazlan, who is also Pulai MP, said Mahathir had in the past taught the community not to be involved in too much politics but rather concentrate on developing the country.
“He had carried out Operasi Lalang to detain opposition leaders like Lim Kit Siang, Mat Sabu and the late Karpal Singh for allegedly posing a threat to the security of the country but now he is sitting in the same table with them to urge voters in Sungai Besar to oppose BN,” he said.
Therefore, his (Mahathir’s) claim that the opposition leaders were a threat to the security of the country can be taken in the context of mere lies propagated to Umno and BN at that time.
