IPOH: Perak Umno today described Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as a loose cannon who would likely cause problems for anyone associated with him.
State Umno liaison committee chairman Datuk Saarani Mohamad said during Dr Mahathir’s time as prime minister, he had flaws, whether “intentional or unintentional”.
“During that time, however, we forgave him. (But now), when he is trying to topple Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, all his mistakes when he was prime minister are being revealed one by one.
“The more he talks, the merrier the discussions on his mistake during his time (as prime minister) will be.”
Saarani added that he hoped Dr Mahathir would stop making any speculations or assumptions on the meeting between Najib and United States President Donald Trump.
“Enough is enough. His time (as prime minister) is over. It’s time for him to accept today’s political reality and move on,” he said.
Dr Mahathir, who is Pakatan Harapan chairman, had recently criticised Najib’s meeting with Trump, saying that the public was not happy about it.
Najib, in answering this, had said Dr Mahathir should stop being a hypocrite as the Umno president-turned-opposition politician had paid millions of ringgit to a Hong Kong-based lobbyist to set up a meeting with then-US president George W. Bush, whilst still prime minister.
Recently, the son of the late Tan Sri Megat Junid Megat Ayub had backed up this claim, saying that his father had arranged the payments for the meeting in 2002.
Datuk Megat Fairouz Junaidi had claimed that his father had met several people and paid several lobbyists upon receiving instructions from Dr Mahathir to arrange for the meeting, adding that this was done because the former premier had wanted to boost his image among members of the Bush administration.