Dr M: Other leaders would have quit and apologised over scandals like 1MDB
(Malay Mail Online) – Unfazed by the offensive launched by Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Putrajaya team, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today that a scandal like that involving state investor 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) would have seen other world leaders quitting their posts and issuing public apologies.
In Malaysia, however, the controversy has only resulted in an outpouring of support for Najib by those who fear losing their positions of power, the former prime minister wrote in his latest blog post.
“The person who truly shamed the nation is Datuk Seri Najib and his 1MDB,” Dr Mahathir said.
“The country was never before been ridiculed this way by allegations that have continued to remain unanswered,” he added.
Dr Mahathir’s latest posting was in response to Foreign Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman who had last month accused him of spreading lies and wrecking his own country in order to topple Najib.
Anifah, in an open letter to The New York Times on June 19, had said that the retired prime minister’s recent attacks against 1MDB was “an excuse to topple the serving prime minister, Najib Tun Razak” after failing to get what he wants.
The minister was responding to Dr Mahathir’s interview carried by the US daily the previous day in which that the latter had continued to criticise the Najib administration.
But according to Dr Mahathir today, many foreign publications had carried negative reports about the current Malaysian leadership even before he started campaigning for Najib’s resignation.
He pointed out that Malaysia has even been flagged in foreign surveys as among the most corrupt countries in the world.
“If Anifah knows shame, he would have already felt embarrassed when these reports were made.
“He should have questioned Najib about the scandals and the foreign media reports. He should have advised Najib not to befriend Jho Low and forbid his stepson from behaving like a tycoon,”
Dr Mahathir wrote, referring to criticisms against billionaire Low Taek Jho and Najib’s stepson Riza Aziz.
Dr Mahathir, 89, has emerged as Najib’s harshest critic in recent weeks with his tenacious questions about the assets of the debt-riddled 1MDB and its ability to repay its growing RM42 billion debt pile.
The man who has snuffed the political careers of two of his former protégés ― his handpicked successor Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and former deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who is currently in jail for the second time on sodomy charges ― appears to have trained his sights on Najib.
Najib, however, turned the tables on Dr Mahathir last week after allegations surfaced in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that money from 1MDB had been wired into his accounts, claiming his mentor-turned-critic was likely behind the latest attack.
