Tun Dr. Mahathir on Hardtalk: “He (PM ‘Flip-Flop’ Abdullah) is making use of the system in the worsts ways!”
Former Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad said today
that PM ‘Flip-Flop’ Dato’ Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as “Making a
political move, a man very unpopular trying to do something ‘right’. He
is making use of the system in the worst ways”, when reacting to the
suggestion of the Prime Minister attempting to “make good against the
Judiciary”, which was purportedly damaged during the former’s time.
Talking
to Stephen Sackur in a BBC “Hardtalk” first aired this afternoon, who
described him as “A personified fellow and opponents call him a
‘Dictator and Racist’ ”. The program was taped in London on Friday, 18
April 2008, was his first interview on air in a foreign media since the
12th Malaysia General Elections on 8 March 2008.
He said
“Results of the GE shows former supporters of the ruling party (BN),
voted Oppositions, not because they like them!”. When asked for the
reason, the stern response was “The Government promised to remove
corruption but they themselves are corrupt”. He also explained that PM
‘Flip-Flop’ Abdullah must go now because the next leader needed time to
revive the party and the support and unless there are changes, then
this might be the beginning of the end of BN.
On the New
Economic Policy, “It was a system initiated by my predecessors. The
system worked for 50 years and worked very well. it is to correct the
imbalance created since the British days”. Sackur asked about “The real
discontent” from different ethic groups in the country and charged
Malaysia, especially in Tun Dr. Mahathir’s time practiced racial biased
policies and now no longer relevant nor acceptable. He even quoted
Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s statement. His response was
“Malaysia is built for all. Everyone is prosperous. All benefited from
the Government policies and progressed. Why only now and not during my
time?”.
Then Sackur charged if people were to voice out
against him then, they would be arrested. “Hundreds of people were
arrested?”. Tun Dr. Mahathir’s instant response, “Who are they?” and
contradicting the host with “The first thing I did as the Prime
Minister, was to release many political detainees”. He the added that
foreign media is fond of making up these stories and end up propagating
them as “the truth”. “Tell me who are the hundreds who I have put in
prison (for political reason)?”.
In the case of Anwar
Ibrahim, when asked to comment about having the support of many and
even BN MPs ready to defect, and wanted to make changes in the system,
including racially based policies “He is welcomed to do that, when he
becomes to the PM” and added “The present leadership should be blamed
for losing support of the BN MPs”.
On issues raised by Anwar,
which is favourable to the minority groups “Now, there is opportunism
for him. He was in Government before. He did not complain”. Then the
issue about his arrest and conviction was trumped up and now proposing
that the former regretted on that episode “Why should I regret? He was
arrested under the laws of the country, tried under the laws of the
country and locked up for abuse of power. This is accordance to the
Malaysian law”. Sackur then added that Anwar wanted to do a full and
thorough public inquiry for all Tun Dr. Mahathir’s wrong doings in the
22 years in office, he responded with sarcasm, “Lets see him so a fully
impartial inquiry. Probably he can get foreigners”.
When
responding to Sackur’s list of Western report of unfair trial for
Anwar, Tun Dr. Mahathir asked in return “What are the track record of
these countries? The are the sort of people who arrest people without
law and trial, like Guantanamo Bay”. Then the issue was raised about
use of the Internal Security Act, which was a put in place as Emergency
Ordinance by the British. “We did it under the law of the country. We
need to prevent people from causing racial riot and disharmony”. He
later elaborated on Malaysia being multi ethnic and multi religious
society.
On the Judiciary, relating to the issue involving a
video with lawyer V K Lingam purportedly talking on the phone and
mentioning Tun Dr. Mahathir’s name, “This man had his video taken
beccause he was deffending him. This man was defending me and Anwar is
the one who released this tape. Anwar wanted to blackmail him!”.
On
the move by PM ‘Flip-Flop’ Abdullah making ex-gratia payments to
dismissed Lord President Tun Mohamed Salleh Abas and five Supreme Court
Judges, “A political move by a man very unpopular, trying to do
“something right”. He is not dismantling the system. He is making use
of the system in worst ways!”. What he did not say was, none of the
members of the bench attended the Bar Council dinner where PM
‘Flip-Flop’ Abdullah made the announcement.
About the
appointment of PM ‘Flip-Flop’ Abdullah, Tun Dr. Mahathir explained that
he former seemed ‘clean’ and ‘pious’ when he was appointed as the
successor, even though he did not have the bigger support as the Vice
President of UMNO. “We all made mistakes. Just like the British people
made a mistake by putting a liar like Blair to power”.
The
debate when on towards democracy. He elaborated that democracy has to
be fully understood and used with with the right intention, otherwise
it can turn anarchy. He also quoted that many earlier civilisation did
not practice democracy and they turned out to be great. “Democracy is
good when the leader is good. It was a leader of a democratic country
who dropped atomic bombs”.
Sackur then charged him as being
‘Anti-Semitic’ and the instant response was “Antisemitism is something
created by the Jews themselves”. He then related to the earlier issue
of democracy “There are journalist who were arrested for talking about
and against the Holocaust. Where is the ‘Freedom of Press’ then?”. He
also explained on his speech “The Jews rule the world by proxy”, with
“The United States allow the Israelis to do anything they want”.
The
interview was ended when he was asked, whether he will continue to
attack the Leadership and Government and whether “Its time for you to
be quiet”, the response with his typical smirk, “Why should I be quiet,
when they are doing something wrong to my country?”.
The wide ranging 30 minute program, was a really good interview, indeed.
The interview can now be viewed on the BBC.com Hardtalk page.
