Dr M: I’m offering alternative for Barisan

TOKYO: Umno is preparing its own demise and that of Barisan Nasional if it continues to have Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi at the helm, former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said Thursday.
He also said that his son Datuk Mukhriz, who decided against following his move to quit Umno, might face “difficulties” staying on should Abdullah continue to be the president.
“Yes, Umno can consider me irrelevant. It is their funeral and not mine. Today the Barisan has been destabilised by Abdullah not being able to lead it to victory in the general election.
“Barisan, in some cases, has become irrelevant. Gerakan has become irrelevant, MIC could not win. All this was due to him. He not only destabilised Umno, he destabilised component parties and he destabilised Barisan,” Dr Mahathir told The Star Thursday in an interview here.
Dr Mahathir, who is here for a dialogue session at the Nikkei conference, said he predicted Barisan would be finished in the next elections if Abdullah continued to serve as Prime Minister.
Asked if his move would provide PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to take over the Government, Dr Mahathir said:
“I am offering an alternative which is less dangerous for Barisan. Instead of jumping to another party, I am telling them to form your own group which will be the determining force in Parliament.”
He added that if Abdullah did not go, he would be in the minority because the other had already left and he would have to give up his post as Prime Minister.
“If in that case Anwar wants to come in, this group will give support to Barisan and Barisan with a new leader can still go on to become the Government,” he said.
Earlier, at a press conference with the Malaysian media, Dr Mahathir was asked why he was being disloyal to Umno.
“If we are against the president, it does not mean we are against the party. We are misinterpreting things.
“If we look back at history, Tun Razak did not agree with Dato Onn Jaafar to open up Umno to other races. To Tun Razak, his disagreement did not mean he was being disloyal to Umno.
“The same goes when in 1969, the Alliance did not perform well in the elections and many criticised Tunku Abdul Rahman. Razak was clearly sympathetic towards his critics, including me.”
He also said that when Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, Tun Musa Hitam and Abdullah challenged him when he was Umno president in 1987, he never accused them of being disloyal.
Asked if he was willing to meet Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Dr Mahathir only had one question to ask Najib.
“I want to ask him whether he is loyal to the party or president? I just want to remind him of the Onn and Tunku cases where his father was clearly disloyal to the party leader.
“If Najib wants to say those who are not loyal to the president is also against the party, I want to remind Najib of what his father did back then,” he said.