Malays Will Be Made Tools By West If Anwar Becomes PM, Says Mahathir

PENANG, March 30 (Bernama) -- Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad says the Malays will be made use of by foreign powers if they choose Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as prime minister.
Describing Anwar as a "a man of many parts", he said Anwar had a glib tongue and hence could draw the attention of people from different groups and backgrounds.
"When he talks about Islam, Muslims will think he's a champion of Islam. He's also good at talking to the kampung (village) folk and also to those at temples.
"We know the west believes that Anwar will become prime minister in the near future. They can then lead him by the nose," said Dr Mahathir during a question-and-answer session after he opened the annual general meeting of Persatuan Melayu Tanjong (Penang Malays Association) here Sunday.
Someone in the audience had asked him about western media reports that Anwar would soon become Malaysia's prime minister.
"If the Malays are willing to kowtow to the foreigners, then they can choose this person (Anwar). I am sorry... he had maligned me all over the world, accusing me of arresting him and throwing him in jail," Dr Mahathir said.
Later at a press conference, he said the nomination quota system for an Umno member to contest a top party post was maintained during his party presidency to ensure that only those who qualified contested and not for personal interest.
Under the system, the party constitution's provision which stipulates that a candidate must secure nominations from at least 60 divisions in order to contest the president's post, was introduced after Dr Mahathir was challenged by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah in 1987 and he (Dr Mahathir) retained the post with a majority of 43 votes.
Since then, the practice of not challenging the top party post has become a tradition.
Dr Mahathir said: "What was my interest then? I did not only win at that time but I had also won the top post uncontested many times.
"We did all that because if we didn't, some would do a Sulaiman Palestin, who had little support but contested the top post."
Dr Mahathir said when he was helming Umno, getting nominations from 60 divisions was not a problem.
He said this was proven when Anwar challenged Tun Ghafar Baba for the deputy president's post, whereby Anwar got many nominations... more than 30 percent as at that time there was no "control".
On this point, Dr Mahathir was responding to newspaper reports quoting Umno vice-president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as saying that he as a member of the party's Constitution Committee had brought before Dr Mahathir a grassroots proposal for lifting the 30 percent requirement.
However, Dr Mahathir had asked him to leave it as it was and this, said Muhyiddin, was mainly due to the fact that Dr Mahathir was the president and that the ruling would undermine any challenge to his presidency.
Dr Mahathir explained that the quota system was maintained at that time to ensure that party elections were treated as a serious matter, therefore the candidates must be serious or qualified enough to contest to avoid wasting time as the election process took a lot of time.

Dr M throws challenge over judicial crisis issue

PENANG: Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad challenged his detractors to show where he had gone wrong in the so-called judicial crisis of 1988 and take him to court.
He said all actions taken that led to the sacking of then Lord President Tun Salleh Abbas was done according to the law and constitution.
“If they (the critics) can show in which part I was wrong, I am willing to be charged in court,” he said when fielding questions from Tanjong Malay Association members at a hotel here yesterday.
Dr Mahathir said it was illogical for him or the Government to apologise to Salleh because actions were taken in accordance with provisions of the law.
On the five states and one Federal Territory currently controlled by the alternative coalition, Dr Mahathir said the opposition parties might be able to win the hearts of even the Malays if they could rule fairly.
On de facto PKR leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, he said cynically that “everybody loved Anwar.”
“When he is with the Jews, the Jews love him. When he is with the Muslims, the Muslims love him. When he is with the temple groups, they love him too.
“Everybody loves him. He is a convincing orator. He talked bad about me to foreigners. He told them I put him in jail,” he said.
On talks that Anwar stood a chance to be the next prime minister, he said he would make a “good prime minister of Israel”.
On Umno vice-president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s allegation that Dr Mahathir introduced the 30% nomination quota to contest top Umno posts to protect himself when he was in power, Dr Mahathir said the policy was to ensure only serious candidates contested the post.
“During my time it was easy to get 30% nomination.
“But not now, because most of the leaders in Umno today are ‘yes men’ who do everything to please the leadership,” he said.

Dr Mahathir: Impossible for BN to win back the 5 states

PENANG (March 30, 2008): It will be impossible for Barisan Nasional (BN) to wrest back the five states which it lost to the opposition in the general election, says former prime minister Tun Mahathir Mohamad.
Mahathir said those who voted for the opposition were no longer interested in the BN and would not return to the party.
"If the opposition governments succeed in governing these states well, even the Malays will be attracted and turn their backs on the BN.
"Even Umno members during this elections secretly voted for the opposition, not because they loved the opposition but for the love of the party (Umno).
"They wanted to send a warning to the party leadership but unfortunately the leadership is still in a slumber and in denial about the losses.
"Not only has Umno been destroyed, but also MCA, MIC, Gerakan and even BN," Mahathir said in his speech when officiating at the Persatuan Melayu Tanjung (Permata) annual general meeting in a hotel here today.
The former prime minister was in his element, raising laughter among those present though his speech was laced with hard hitting comments on the present government leadership.
Mahathir said when the opposition won in the many states, police warned that there should not be any celebrations or rallies but practised double standards when it came to Umno members.
"When Lim Guan Eng spoke about the NEP, all he said was he wanted to abolish the corruption as a result of NEP and there were people who demonstrated.
"Police did not do anything about the demonstrators and they too practiced double standards," Mahathir added.
He reiterated his call to Umno members to speak out if they loved the party and wanted the party to remain relevant in years to come. For 450 years we were ruled by outsiders and we still refused to speak out or retaliate.
"Now the Malays are so scared to voice out their opinion and have been reduced to saying 'yes sir' to the party leadership. If we continue to be like this, we will forever be under the rule of someone or other and never be freed from our shackles of colonialism until the end of time.
"The future of Umno is in your hands, if you remain scared to speak out, there is no future for Umno if those who are elected are those singled out by the party leadership," he added.
When asked if he thought former Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim could one day become Malaysia's premier, Mahathir said it would spell doom for the country.
"He seems to be a man of many parts, changing his tune to different audiences. He is only fit to be the Prime Minister of the Israel and he will destroy the country if he is made Prime Minister as he will allow interference by other countries into our affairs," Mahathir said.
Mahathir was also asked to comment on Umno vice-president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin's statement that the 30% quota system for nomination for party elections was introduced by Mahathir to protect his own presidency.
Mahathir has asked for the 30% party support rule to be abolished.
"When we introduced it, it was done to allow only those who had substantial support from party members to contest and not for anyone to do so at their whim and fancy.
"It was not difficult for me to garner that support then and I welcomed those who wanted to challenge me even Razaleigh (Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah) and even someone who is now Prime Minister (Abdullah).
"I never gave out instructions that none should stand against me but you see what happened to Razaleigh when he wanted to challenge Abdullah in 2004?
"He only obtained one vote from his division because the others were threatened not to support him. Even in 2004, Khairy Jamaluddin won uncontested. I know for a fact that people who wanted to stand against him were threatened and hauled up by Youth Chief (Datuk Seri) Hishamuddin (Hussein) to stay away.
"What is this? If he was a shining and outstanding example we can accept but undue pressure was put on Umno members not to contest against him," he added.
He said though there were those within Umno who would make a better president and said they must have advisers chosen via the council and not their own family members.