In Najib’s policies, Dr M sees failure and liability
In the interview with Utusan, Dr Mahathir again censured the Najib government for abolishing preventive laws as western-centric, blaming it for what he saw as increased foreign meddling in Malaysia’s domestic affairs.
(The Malay Mail) – Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, once an ardent supporter of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, is now dousing the latter’s policies with cold water, calling his cash aid scheme ineffective and finding fault with his law reforms.
In an interview with Utusan Malaysia’s Sunday edition, the still-influential Mahathir (picture) criticised Najib’s People’s 1 Malaysia Aid (BR1M) as “having no effect”, and claimed Putrajaya’s repeal of preventive laws like the Internal Security Act (ISA) could subject Malaysia to foreign interference.
“Actually, what was given did not have any effect,” replied Dr Mahathir, who served as prime minister for 22 years, when asked why the Najib administration’s effort to help all races with cash aid had failed to bring about a better Barisan Nasional (BN) performance in Election 2013.
“Those who received the aid were not even thankful, let alone if they were opposition supporters, because to them that it was their money…maybe some quarters thought if the voters received money they would be satisfied when the money was actually insufficient. How long could it have lasted anyway?” he said.
The renewed criticism towards Najib comes amid talks that the ex-premier no longer supports the present prime minister despite reports of Dr Mahathir vowing to back a no-contest call for the Umno presidency in a move that would see the former’s position as prime minister secured.
But political observers noted that Dr Mahathir, who was instrumental in installing Najib as prime minister by ousting Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, had been very critical of the Najib government, often chiding its policies, including political reforms, in closed-door meetings with corporate and NGO leaders over the past months.
In the interview with Utusan, Dr Mahathir again censured the Najib government for abolishing preventive laws as western-centric, blaming it for what he saw as increased foreign meddling in Malaysia’s domestic affairs.
“This is all our fault because we cannot control it after we abolished laws that had previously protected our interests like the ISA. We abolished them because we wanted to be more liberal — when countries like the US and Britain also have laws similar to the ISA.
“They can arrest someone and detain them for 10 years and even hang them without trial. We detain someone at the most for two years, then we release them, it’s not like we murder them,” he said.
The Internal Security Act (ISA), along with other deterrent laws like the Emergency Ordinance (EO), were abolished as part of Najib’s promise to implement political reform and improve civil liberties.
The Najib government had also vowed to repeal the Sedition Act although the arrests of dissenters under the law and renewed right-wing pressure that preventive laws be reinstalled have raised questions as to whether Najib will stick to his guns and see through his reforms.
Dr Mahathir, whose tenure was marked by the widespread use of such laws to silence the opposition, has also joined the growing list of those who want the ISA and EO reinstated.
“When the country is more open, more foreigners will try and influence our politics. For the US, they blatantly change a government and anyone seen as against them is ousted,” the former prime minister said when arguing in favour of the need for preventive laws.
Although Dr Mahathir is said to have endorsed a no-contest call for the top two positions in Umno, party intrigues could see Najib and his deputy Tan Sri Muhiyiddin Yasin challenged, party observers note. Whether the two win unchallenged would depend on the feedback received at Umno divisional meetings and Najib’s success at managing the party’s internal factions.
Some 145,000 out of Umno’s 3.5 million members will vote directly for all posts in the party elections this year, under new rules enforced to ensure corruption will not skew the results.
The party’s Supreme Council had already agreed last month that the top two posts would not be contested but several senior leaders have said contests for all posts would make Umno more democratic.
