KUALA LUMPUR: Umno Supreme Council member Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob lambasted Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad for putting his agenda ahead of the nation’s needs.
Ismail described Dr Mahathir as a vindictive man as he had launched attacks against Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak at the recent announcement of the PH Manifesto.
“Instead of telling people the benefits of the PH manifesto, Dr Mahathir turn that event into a platform for him to attack Najib,” he said.
“He mentioned Najib’s name in his speech at least 80 times. He even made several allegations against Najib since the latter took the helm of the country,” he said.
Ismail said Malaysians were wise and knew Mahathir’s main goals for coming back into the political arena.
“His actions show that he puts his grudges ahead of the country’s needs.
“There are many reasons why he is acting in such a way. Firstly, his son Mukhriz was not given any position in the Umno Supreme Council,” he said.
He said a month after Mukhriz lost in the Umno Supreme Council election, Mahathir decided to step down as the Petronas chairman citing health reasons and advice from a doctor.
“How can Malaysians trust he can lead the country at the age of 93 when he said he was not able to continue his duties as the Petronas chairman at the age of 88 in 2013?”
Ismail said Dr Mahathir was also being vindictive because Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and former prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had declined to agree to his requests.
“He had made various calls for Najib not to abolish the Internal Security Act (ISA) and emergency ordinance. Apart from that he also urged Najib not to pay attention to the Chinese and Indian communities during the previous general election.
“He also wanted Najib to cancel the minimum wage and stop giving 1Malaysian People’s Aid (BR1M) payouts to the people as he wrote in his blog ‘Chedet’ in August 2014,”
Ismail said Dr Mahathir‘s actions against Najib was nothing new as he did the same thing to Abdullah when he was in command.
“Dr Mahathir also made a few personal requests to Najib, which included handing over Malaysia Airlines to his friend, approving a sports gambling licence for another friend and providing Proton with a RM2 million free grant.
“He also wanted Pak Lah and Najib to proceed with the proposed crooked bridge project connecting Malaysia to Singapore,” he said.