This is what Siti Hasmah was worried about
Mahathir was so riled up about things not going his way since 26th July 2016 that he blew his top. As he gave Daim an earful about Kadir and the three Tan Sri, he started having chest pains and was rushed to hospital. According to Siti Hasmah, since 26th July Mahathir has been restless and has not been able to sleep at night and what she dreaded most happened yesterday at 9.00am.
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s wife, is not too happy about her husband’s extremely active and stressful lifestyle. She felt that at this stage of his life Mahathir should slow down and not burn his candle from both ends. And what she dreaded most happened yesterday morning at 9.00am. Mahathir was admitted to the IJN for what was reported as chest pains or chest infection.
Siti Hasmah knows that Mahathir is pushing his luck and that the stress may kill him. According to Siti Hasmah, since 26th July 2016 when they were in Jakarta, Mahathir has been very agitated due to the mess up of the press conference that was supposed to have been held that same day but which had to be aborted instead. Since then Mahathir has been restless and has not been sleeping well.
Mahathir’s first heart attack was in 1989 when he was suffering extreme stress and almost got ousted by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and his ‘Team B’. Then he suffered his second heart attack during Hari Raya of 2006. At that time Mahathir was actively campaigning the length and breadth of Malaysia to oust Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
That same evening he was discussing whether Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah was ready to take over from Abdullah and, more importantly, whether he would toe the line, when at 3.00am Mahathir suffered a heart attack and was rushed to hospital.
The doctors decided he must undergo surgery if he was going to survive. But then Mahathir suffered post-surgery complications and a serious infection so they had to operate on him again. This time, however, they gave Mahathir a less than 50% chance of survival and the family braced themselves for the worst.
Somehow Mahathir survived what many said he would not survive. Since that 2006 heart attack, though, Mahathir has had many more close calls. This was what one Umno Blogger, ‘Big Dog’, wrote in September 2007.
Since 8 November last year (2006), Tun Dr. Mahathir has had three heart attacks and hospitalised in IJN. He was admitted into IJN upon returning from Johor Bahru on 10 February 2007, where he made the call for UMNO leaders to not fear leadership change and again on 15 May 2007, whilst on a private visit to Langkawi. The latter was a rather serious attack and he was flown back to Kuala Lumpur and admitted immediately to IJN the moment the IJN specialist who flew to Langkawi to treat him managed to stabilise him and he was able to take a flight.
That was what was reported in 2007. Since then Mahathir was hospitalised in Australia in 2010 and again in 2013 for a chest infection — and again yesterday at 9.00am for the same thing. Some say it may be more than just a chest infection and they are basing their opinion on the events just before they had to send Mahathir to hospital.
Yesterday morning, Mokhzani, joined Mahathir for an early breakfast where he told his father he might have to face charges of insider trading. On 29th July 2016, his ex-partner, Datuk Yeow Kheng Chew and two others — Paulene Chee Yuet Fang, his personal assistant, and Tan Yee Chee, his remisier — were charged for insider trading. These three were acting under his instructions so that means he, too, faces the risk of that same fate.
That was when Mahathir blew his top and grumbled at Mokhzani as to why he went and did a silly thing like that knowing that they are very vulnerable and would be at the mercy of the powers-that-be. Surely Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak is not going to go easy on him considering what they have subjected him to. The sentence under this charge is a maximum of ten years jail and if Mokhzani gets sent to jail for ten years Mahathir is not going to be around to see the day Mokhzani walks free.
Mokhzani and Mahathir had a heated exchange and the son blamed the father for the predicament. If Mahathir had not been so gung-ho about ousting Najib then Mokhzani would not be facing this problem. Mokhzani then left in a huff after which Mahathir phoned Tun Daim Zainuddin and grumbled about the stupid move that Kadir Jasin made that resulted in the planned press conference — that was supposed to have been held against the backdrop of the announcement by the US Justice Department and the US Attorney General — having to be aborted. Mahathir said if the 26th July plan had not been screwed up then Mokhzani would not today be in deep shit.
Malaysia Today has already written about this, which you can read here:
I am no moron, says Kadir Jasin
Khairul’s brilliant pre-emptive strike against the three Tan Sri
Mahathir’s near heart attack in Jakarta
The trap that Khairul set up for Abu Kassim, Gani and Zeti
Are Abu Kassim, Gani and Zeti going to face charges of treason?
Abu Kassim caught in his own web of deceit
Mahathir also told Daim he has been trying to contact former Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Abu Kassim Mohamed, former Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail, and former Bank Negara Governor Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz but all three are not taking his calls. They appear to have cut off all communications with him and Mahathir is boiling mad because this means he cannot move forward and is stuck in a rut.
Nothing appears to be working in his favour. Yesterday Muhyiddin Yassin went to the office of the Registrar of Societies to register their new party. But it appears like the reception for this new party is lukewarm and not as hot as he had originally expected. Then there is also the matter of whether the proposed name of the new party can be approved since they are using ‘Bersatu’ in the name, which is also being used by Umno. So in the end if the ‘Bersatu’ in the name is not allowed then they might be left with just ‘Pribumi’.
Mahathir is juggling too many balls in the air at the same time and he is getting very agitated. And Daim was no help as well because he was not very reassuring and sounded quite negative. In fact, Daim sounded downright condescending as if he was just humouring the old man knowing that disagreeing would get him nowhere.
And that was when Mahathir started to feel unwell and had to be rushed to hospital. At first they thought he was having yet another heart attack or stroke. The official story is that he is having a chest infection. Insiders say he is in hospital just for a routine check up. But why go for a routine medical check-up on the day that his new party is being registered?
There was panic at first when word got out that Mahathir was rushed to IJN. What bad timing. They wanted the focus to be on the registration of Mahathir’s new party and not on Mahathir being rushed to hospital. Chinese who strongly believe in feng shui say that this is not a good sign for Mahathir’s new party.
I remember back in 1999 when the Terengganu Menteri Besar, Wan Mokhtar Ahmad, slipped and fell as he climbed the steps to enter the nomination centre in Kemaman to file his nomination papers. Chinese said it is a bad omen and bad feng shui. This meant Wan Mokhtar was going to fall. True enough, not only did he fall but the whole state fell as well.
What is more interesting about this whole thing is that Mahathir was really pissed big time with Mokhzani. He practically blamed Mokhzani for being stupid and for getting caught for insider trading at a time when they need to go all out to attack Najib and try to bring him down.
In short, the way that Mahathir reacted was as if be believed that Mokhzani was guilty. His beef is not that Mokhzani was being fixed up on fabricated charges but that Mokhzani did actually commit the crime of insider trading. And because of that he has now jeopardised what they are trying to do by opening up a vulnerable spot when they can get hit.
But what probably triggered Mahathir yesterday was when Mokhzani turned round and blamed him for the problem. If Mahathir had not tried to kill Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak then they would have nothing to fear. So it is Mahathir’s fault for attacking Najib and not Mokhzani’s fault for committing the crime of insider trading. I suppose even a strong heart like Mahathir’s cannot take that sort of allegation.
