Leave Mahathir in his own world, says Ku Nan

Umno secretary-general says he is bewildered by former premier’s contradictory shifts in thinking

(FMT) – Bewildered by Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s varying and contradictory opinions, Umno’s Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor has suggested that the former premier be left to his own devices.

Tengku Adnan, who is Umno secretary-general, had been asked for his views about Dr Mahathir’s apology last week about curtailing the royal power of assent to legislation in the 1990s.

“I don’t understand. Let him be in his own world, okay? I don’t want to get involved,” he told reporters in Putrajaya today.

“I don’t understand Mahathir,” Tengku Adnan said, according to Malaysiakini. “When he did that, he told us to support him. Now when he sees that this is not in his favour, he says he was wrong.”

He said Dr Mahathir, as prime minister, had guaranteed Internet freedom, but then later regretted the lack of restraint on the Internet.

“Back then, he was also the one who agreed to provide for Internet freedom. When he found out that the Internet brings all kinds of problems, he said he was mistaken.

Dr Mahathir had offered guarantees against censorship of the Internet as a means of drawing foreign investment in his then pet project, the Multimedia Super Corridor.

However, in 2013, he said he had come to have second thoughts about the guarantee, as it has led to abuses.

In the 1990s, Dr Mahathir made constitutional changes to remove the power of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to delay or refuse royal assent to laws passed by Parliament.

Last week, however, he apologised because the controversial National Security Council Act passed into law automatically 30 days after being submitted for royal assent.