I didn’t ask him to resign, says Dr M over Najib criticism
Former PM Mahathir had lashed out at Najib in his blog post, expressing his lack of confidence in the Umno president. - The Malaysian Insider pic by Nazir Sufari, August 18, 2014Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said tonight that his criticism against Datuk Seri Najib Razak was not personal and it did not mean that the prime minister should resign from his post.The former prime minister said he did not agree with Najib's policies as they did not bring any benefit to the country."No, I am not asking him to resign. I just do not agree with his policies," Dr Mahathir told reporters at the Putra World Trade Centre tonight.Dr Mahathir, who had this morning blogged about withdrawing his support for Najib, accused the country's chief administrator of being "soft", with the tendency to keep quiet when faced with problems."As you know, he did not do well in the last general election. He did worse than Pak Lah," said Dr Mahathir in reference to Najib's predecessor Tun Dr Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.Abdullah took over from Dr Mahathir when the latter stepped down in 2003 but was forced to handover the premiership and Umno presidency to Najib not long after Barisan Nasional lost its two-thirds majority in the 2008 national polls."I had expected Najib to do better but he still sticks to his policies," the vocal ex-prime minister told reporters after presenting his keynote address at the launch of Universiti Utara Malaysia's Institute of Excellence for Islamic Jerusalem Studies tonight.The country's longest serving prime minister also felt that Najib was soft."Sometimes, he did not respond, he was quiet... got problem also he did not take any action," he said.In stressing that his criticisms were "not personal", Dr Mahathir said Najib did a lot of things that did not benefit the country.He cited a laundry list of grievances against Najib, from festering racial and religious tension to people disrespecting the constitution, to Malaysians getting kidnapped for ransom."All kinds of problems, such as this country being flooded with foreigners, things are not taken seriously. If it happens once, I understand but it keeps on occurring," he said.Asked whether he had approached Najib with his concerns, Dr Mahathir, who governed Malaysia for 22 years from 1981, said he had done so but that his advice was not heeded."He did not do anything so I took it upon myself to criticise because no one wanted to do so," he said.To a question whether he expected Najib to react, Dr Mahathir said it is not a matter of answering, but a matter of doing things.Dr Mahathir had earlier today said he withdrew his support for Najib as his criticism had fallen on deaf ears.“I have tried to give my views to him directly, which are also the views of many people who have met me," wrote Dr Mahathir today on his popular blog, chedet.cc."I have no choice but to withdraw my support. This has not been effective so I have to criticise," he said, adding that Najib was no better than his predecessor, Abdullah.Najib is not the first Malaysian prime minister criticised by Dr Mahathir.He had similarly reproached Abdullah as well as Malaysia's first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman.Dr Mahathir began openly attacking Abdullah and his administration in 2006 over his policies, including cancelling the “crooked” bridge to link Singapore and Johor.He turned to his blog to criticise Abdullah for his “half-past-six government”, and even took shots at the latter’s tendency to nap in public.Last year, Abdullah responded to Dr Mahathir’s criticism in his book “Awakening” and blamed the former prime minister for contributing to the loss of BN support in the 2008 general election.“Mahathir is set in his ways. And he believes that his way is the only way. When I tried to do things differently, he believed that I was doing things wrongly. But that is Mahathir,” wrote Abdullah. – August 18, 2014.source : the malaysian insider
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