KUALA LUMPUR: Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is of the opinion that no party or coalition will be able to garner a clear majority to form the next government, although there are four main contenders who have fielded enough candidates to do so.
“There are 945 candidates who will be contesting and it is likely that no party or coalition will win enough seats to form the next government.
“Actually, the real contenders are four groups which have fielded enough candidates to form the next government and they are Barisan Nasional (BN), Pakatan Harapan (PH), Perikatan Nasional (PN) and last but not least, our own Gerakan Tanah Air, which has yet to be registered.
“So the most important question is who should voters choose among the four?”
Dr Mahathir, who is GTA chairman, said this via a post on his Facebook account today.
He said BN’s reputation was tainted after former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was sentenced to jail for stealing government money, abuse of power and corruption.
He noted that the current Umno president and BN chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was facing charges of corruption and if found guilty, will end up joining Najib in jail.
“Zahid wants BN to win simply to save BN leaders from jail, and for the dropping of all charges against BN leaders. What happens to the rakyat and the country does not interest Zahid and BN.
“After assuring Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob that he would be the prime minister once again if BN wins, reports have emerged that candidates had to declare that Zahid would be the prime minister should BN win.
“Even though Zahid and Umno have denied the existence of such a declaration, not many people are convinced,” he said.
Dr Mahathir also took a swipe at PH, saying that upon coming to power after GE14, DAP, a component party of the PH coalition, became arrogant and were bent on terminating big contracts with big companies, forgetting that there were thousands of Malaysians employed for such projects and such a move would be catastrophic.
He then took aim at PH chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
“PH wanted Anwar to be prime minister. But Anwar had no competence. As acting PM in 1997, when I went on holiday, he couldn’t manage the finances of the country.
“During the currency crisis of 1997-1998, he chose to submit to the IMF and the World Bank. By doing so he would have bankrupted the nation. So choosing PH for the next government would bankrupt the nation,” he said.
Dr Mahathir then referred to PN as being lucky to come to power albeit through the backdoor.
“Mahiaddin (Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin) became prime minister. This was engineered by Najib who wanted a government which would drop the charges he was facing. But the PN government under Mahiaddin was unable to stop Najib from being found guilty on all charges as Najib was sentenced to 12 years jail.
“Mahiaddin himself was incompetent and unable to tackle the economic, political and social problems brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. Najib then decided he needed an Umno man as PM. Najib withdrew 15 members of parliament from the Mahiaddin-led government and it duly collapsed.
“Then Ismail Sabri became prime minister but unfortunately for Najib, Ismail Sabri was also not able to prevent Najib from being jailed. Then through Zahid, pressure was applied on Ismail Sabri to dissolve Parliament and call for elections. Ismail sabri gave in only after he was assured that if BN won he would become PM once again,” he said.
Dr Mahathir pointed out that all senior Umno leaders aligned to Ismail Sabri were axed giving rise to speculation that Ismail Sabri is like a sheep steered to the slaughter house.
The fourth party to make a bid was none other than GTA, the coalition helmed and led by the grand old master of Malaysian politics.
Dr Mahathir stressed that GTA, which is contesting under the Pejuang banner, is a Malay movement against the corrupt Umno Malays.
“These corrupt Malays have destroyed the nation and its administrative machinery. By enabling a backdoor government to displace the government chosen by the rakyat.
“The people suffer from an incompetent administration. We may not be Sri Lanka or Lebanon or Iraq. But we are on the way there,” he cautioned.
Mahathir also warned that if voters choose the very people who caused the slide in the first place, or those whose elevation to government was through the back door, then the slide towards failure would be inevitable.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
