KUALA LUMPUR: An ongoing tit for tat, cyberworld war of words between Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Datuk Seri Najib Razak saw the latter today whacking his arch nemesis for riding on the Malays card.
Najib, in a Facebook posting, said it was time Dr Mahathir stopped riding on the Malays to further his own agenda.
He said when Dr Mahathir was in power, the latter used to describe the Malays as a lazy, forgetful, poltically naive and spendthrift people who needed to stop being envious of other peoples' wealth.
However, he said when the 97-year old was no longer in power, Dr Mahathir made an about turn and went round crying about how the Malays were being sidelined and had been oppressed.
"Enough is enough. Stop riding on the Malay name anymore," he said in the posting which had garnered 16,000 likes, 1,200 comments and 536 shares so far.
This is the second time in days that Najib has called out Dr Mahathir over the latter's postings criticising the current administration.
Last week, Najib labelled Dr Mahathir as Mr ISA (Internal Security Act) for using the draconian act against political rivals when he was the prime minister over 30-years ago.
However, Dr Mahathir has since responded by saying that Ops lalang which was initiated during his time was actually based on police recommendations.
Ops Lalang began on Oct 27, 1987, after 19 people were arrested. Within a month, 106 people, including opposition and Barisan Nasional (BN) politicians, academics, social activists and non-governmental organisation leaders, were detained under ISA.
Forty people were detained for two years but most were released within 60 days.
Three newspapers – The Star, Sin Chew Daily and the now-defunct Watan – were also suspended.