Mahathir and Kit Siang are two political cynics who deserve each other, says Tunku Abdul Aziz
(Malaysia Outlook) – Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s ‘pathological obsession’ with making his son Mukhriz a Prime Minister has led to him reducing himself to a figure of ridicule.
This was the opinion of former DAP national vice chairman Tunku Abdul Aziz Tunku Ibrahim in commenting on Mahathir’s reaction with regard to the much debated Bumiputera Malaysia Finance Ltd (BMF) scandal and the Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) foreign exchange losses of the 80s and 90s.
Tunku Abdul Aziz remarked that the reason behind Mahathir behaving ‘so unconscionably in this affair’ was because the latter would stop at nothing and would employ all means at his disposal to achieve his greatest personal ambition of seeing Mukhriz on top of Malaysia’s highest political ‘totem pole’.
“The country which has given him so much can go to the dog in his relentless quest for power, now evidently no longer within his grasp.
“He and his new-found strange bed-fellow, Lim Kit Siang (DAP adviser), deserve each other, two political cynics who have outlived their useful political life but determined to establish their dynasties at any cost,” he added, referring to the apparent collaboration between DAP and Mahathir’s new political platform Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Pribumi).
Previously, Mahathir and Kit Siang reportedly agreed on a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on the two financial scandals, as long as the same was to be set up for 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
Tunku Abdul Aziz described this as ‘the height of cynicism’.
“This is utterly dishonest,” Tunku Abdul Aziz said.
Noting that on the surface it may sound that the tit-for-tat request was even-handed and fair and square, Tunku Abdul Aziz reminded that the 1MDB case had been investigated by the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the Special Task Force, the Auditor-General, the Attorney-General, the Police as well as the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
“In other words, 1MDB had been gone over with a fine-tooth comb.
“No such in depth investigation had ever been carried out, and Parliament was lied to, about the BMF affair. The same applies to the BNM forex gambling spree,” he added.
On Mahathir’s claim that the government of Malaysia incurred a loss of RM42 billion on 1MDB, Tunku Abdul Aziz said it was ‘a horrendous, deliberate lie that was unprecedented in the political life of the country, even by the standards normally employed by the former PM’.
The figure, Tunku Abdul Aziz said was calculated to cause despair, confusion, outrage and disaffection, all for the purpose of seeking to oust Prime Minister Najib Razak.
Tunku Abdul Aziz reminded that the government’s total capital investment in 1MDB was only RM1 million.
