Concerted effort to demonise Najib

KUALA LUMPUR: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad believes that there is a concerted effort by certain quarters to demonise Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak by sowing the seeds of distrust among the people against the Deputy Prime Minister.
He said what Najib was facing was “not surprising” considering that he was the main contender for the Umno presidency in the party’s elections in March.
Najib, he said, was experiencing the same fate that had befallen him (Dr Mahathir) following his retirement as he was accused of many things although none was substantiated or proven true.
“I faced all that before. I was labelled many things and was accused of everything. They even set up a Royal Commission to find my faults but nothing has been proven so far,” he told The Star at his office here yesterday.
Recently, the accusation against Najib that he had influenced investigations into the murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu had resurfaced despite his repeated denials.
This week, Najib was said to have been involved in shady deals - an accusation brought by the Oppo­sition and a businessman who had failed to get the contract for the purchase of 12 helicopters.
To date, Najib has secured nominations to contest for the Umno presidency from all 30 divisions which have concluded their delegate meetings.
As is the case with Najib, Dr Mahathir said the media was regularly used to discredit him.
“I know that the media was directed to do so by certain people. The newspapers were told to write this or not to write that,” he added.
Asked if he now feels vindicated as many Umno and government leaders did not seem to be afraid to be seen with him, judging from how they behaved at several functions recently, Dr Mahathir said:
“It’s not about being vindicated. It should not have happened at all.”
He was referring to his claim that some Umno and government leaders were warned not to be seen with him or to attend any function where he would attend.
He said the manner in which he was treated after his retirement had never happened to any of the previous leaders.
“People were told not to visit me. They also denied me the platform to speak my mind. When Tunku Abdul Rahman retired, he was free to meet whomever he pleased. He even had his own newspaper column,” said Dr Mahathir.
He said that throughout his 22 years in office, he was always vocal and had not shied away from any question, including from the me­­dia.
Dr Mahathir said he still believed in the same principle even after his retirement.
He claimed that the shoddy treatment he received after his retirement was actually part of an attempt by certain people to show to the world that Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was a better prime minister than him.
However, Dr Mahathir did not relish the thought of Abdullah facing a similar experience when he retires.
“That is not good,” he said when told that his former political secretary Datuk Johari Baharom had claimed on Wednesday that many leaders were now deserting Abdullah following his announcement to not seek re-election as Umno president.

tunku : after retirement pak lah knows, what he had done to others,the same thing will happen to him.that's why he asked for extension so that he could clear things before he leaves.sweep away all the files etc.as for najib, he is ready to face the challenge as it is not just started, it had started a couple of years ago.now it is for najib to show to umno and malaysian on how he can handle things. he has pak lah as an example, hence he should not do all the mistakes done by pak lah to survive and also for the survival of umno and bn.