LANGKAWI: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has repeated his claim that his private plane had been sabotaged.
This, despite a statement by the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) that it had conducted a thorough investigation, including verifying the aircraft documentation, inspecting the aircraft and interviewing the pilot and maintenance personnel.
The PKR candidate for Langkawi parliamentary seat dismissed the findings, claiming the CAAM did not do any research on it.
"They said it was not sabotage... but how do they know. They did not do any research,” he reporters after meeting voters at a public market in Kuah town today.
However, he did not say what he meant by this.
Dr Mahathir even made fresh allegations that the alleged sabotage was only part of a plot to prevent him from filing his nomination as a candidate yesterday.
“Moreover, it was not the only thing which happened. When I tried to borrow another plane, most of my friends who used to oblige refused my request.
“One of them said he was pressured and that is why he cannot give it to me.
"So it was not just about the leakage but the rejection by other airplane owners indicate that there is someone who tried to stop them from lending me an aircraft to prevent me from coming here to register as a candidate,” he said.
Dr Mahathir was responding to a statement by CAAM chairman Datuk Seri Azharuddin Abdul Rahman that CAAM found investigation did not find any evidence that the veteran politician’s plane which was supposed to fly him from Subang to Langkawi on Friday had been sabotaged.
Azharuddin said the aircraft was unable to fly due to air leakage from the left hand nose wheel, which was a minor and routine technical fault.
He said allegations of sabotage were serious and could impact the reputation of Malaysia’s aviation industry and the country.
"It is morally wrong to make such allegations for the sake of political gain," he was quoted as saying.
On Friday, Dr Mahahir claimed the aircraft that was to fly him had been sabotaged.
He claimed the pilot cancelled the flight just before take-off after realising the aircraft - a Bombardier Challenger CL60, had a problem and immediate repairs could not be done.
Following the allegation, the government ordered a probe into the matter.
Azharuddin said CAAM had conducted an investigation, including the verification of the documentation, physical inspection of the aircraft, and interviews with the pilots and maintenance personnel of the plane and found that there was no recent reported defect except for air leakage from the left hand nose wheel.
However, despite the explanation, Dr Mahathir had during a 30-minute ceramah here last night, repeated the allegation of his plane being sabotaged, before saying it again during the press conference this morning.
Dr Mahathir is facing a three-cornered fight with with Barisan Nasional (BN) incumbent Datuk Ir Nawawi Ahmad who is defending the Langkawi seat for the second term and Pas candidate Zubir Ahmad.
Nawawi had won the seat in GE13 after defeating PKR’s Ahmad Abdullah and independent candidate Marina Hussein with an 11,861 vote majority.
Dr Mahathir is contesting the seat in his bid to return to the Parliament as a prime minister candidate should the opposition win GE14.