Dr M hits back: I won’t quit Umno

Malaysiakini – 27/6/2006 
Embattled former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad said that he had no plans to leave Umno although he believed that there was a move to expel him from the party. 

“I know there is this process of demonising me, so that I will be hated by Umno. At that stage, I think they will take action to expel me. At the moment, they cannot. 

“It has to be built up, and they are building this up through the newspapers, showing pictures of me with PAS leaders,” Mahathir told reporters after delivering his keynote address at a forum in Kuala Lumpur this morning. 

Yesterday, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nazri Abdul Aziz launched a scathing attack on Mahathir and urged his former boss to leave Umno for allegedly “sharing the same platform” with opposition leaders at a public lecture on Saturday. 

“Nazri is what they call a hatchet man. I don’t care at all his opinion [...] The party doesn’t belong to Nazri. It belongs to all Malays. Nazri has no right to ask this or that person to leave. I was in Umno before he was born,” snapped Mahathir. 

He added he had not breached Umno’s constitution in his criticism of party leaders. 

We're not at war 

On photographs depicting him with several notable PAS leaders, which were prominently featured in several dailies today, the former premier reiterated that he had no association with the opposition. 

“I wasn’t on the same platform with PAS people but if they want to come, I can’t say no. I was giving a talk to NGOs, and they came. It wasn't even organised by me. I went there, and they were there...,” he said. 

During the lecture - organised by former Umno politician Ibrahim Ali on behalf of several NGOs and Malaysia Today blog - Mahathir renewed attacks on Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s government and his handpicked successor’s ambitious and influential son-in-law, Khairy Jamaluddin. 

Mahathir also brushed aside notions that he was at war with the government, which was suggested by Nazri yesterday. 

“Criticising the government is not war. They are trying to make out that this is a war between Dr Mahathir and Umno. Do you mean to say that you can’t criticise the prime minister at all? During my time, the amount of criticism I had to face would fill several volumes,” said Mahathir. 

Government stupid? 

He lamented that there had been a lack of ‘openness’ to contrarian opinions within the Abdullah administration. 

“You look at the newspapers, it would seem that nobody agrees with me, everybody is angry with me but lots of people are not angry with me. 

“They say all this talk about openness is a big bluff. The only thing open, they feel, is when you condemn anybody who criticises the government,” he stressed.
Mahathir has today up the ante in the on-going war of words by implying that government leaders were “stupid” for allowing national car manufacturer Proton to sell its motorcycle arm, MV Agusta for euro 1 (RM4.5). 

“The selling of Agusta, losing RM500 million for nothing because you are ‘bodoh' (stupid) and don't know technology, (and) you say it's useless.” 
Source: www.malaysiakini.com