Dr M says Muhyiddin has won, blames Najib for downfall
PUTRAJAYA: Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad appeared to have accepted defeat, saying that Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin may have enough support from MPs to run the country until the next general election.
“It can last until the general election. Now with Muhyiddin as prime minister, he can give a lot of goodies to the people.
“I found that some of my supporters, now appointed ministers, have moved to his side. I used to have the support of 114 MPs but now the number is lesser. So, it would be hard to push for a no-confidence vote at Dewan Rakyat.
“Of course, when he offers you a minister’s job, it’s hard for people to refuse. I cannot offer you anything, ”he said.
The 80-minutes interview was Mahathir’s first media engagement after resigning on Feb 24.
Speaking about his successor, Mahathir urged Muhyiddin to continue with the policies made by the previous government, especially the ones enacted during his first premiership, which ran for 22 years.
“I urge the government not to roll back on good policies such as the Shared Prosperity Vision 2030.
“It is a good policy and the person who drafted the policy is also in the Cabinet, “he said.
When asked on who was responsible for Pakatan Harapan’s collapse, the nonagenarian blamed his former protege, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
“The real conspirator is Najib. He had this idea of garnering enough Malay support by joining forces with PAS. He tried really hard but he failed anyway and we won,” said Mahathir.
He said that Najib, together with Perikatan Nasional, are still harping on the Malay-Muslim agenda narrative by luring Bersatu to their pact.
In that quest, Mahathir said that DAP was always accused of being anti-Malay and was said to be the real power behind Pakatan.
“We have to get rid of DAP, so we have to work with Umno. That was their narrative. Suddenly the losers were winning, while the winners were in the losing side.
“This is a conspiracy. Is this my fault? There is no need for me to hatch a conspiracy because I was already the prime minister,” he said.
Mahathir added that Najib wanted to regain power as soon as possible as the latter was fearful of the outcome of his corruption trial.
“So that was their conspiracy. Bersatu had left to join Perikatan and Pakatan is no longer the government. They have won,” he said.
By: Hema Subramaniam and G. Vinod
