Interview: Mahathir on Malaysia’s fate, ‘crook’ PM Najib and the Trump meeting that backfired
Mahathir Mohamad said he doesn’t want to be prime minister again and that his aim was simply to topple Najib and restore Malaysia’s reputation
Former Malaysian strongman Mahathir Mohamad said the opposition alliance campaigning to topple the country’s corruption-tainted leader could win the next general elections and pull Malaysia back from a slide into kleptocracy.
The energetic 92-year-old, Asia’s longest-serving leader before stepping down in 2003, has made a high-profile return to politics in a bid to oust his protégé, Prime Minister Najib Razak, who has clung to power despite an epic corruption scandal that involved hundreds of millions of dollars passing through his bank accounts.
Mahathir told Associated Press in an interview that the disparate opposition coalition he has spearheaded to contest elections due by mid-2018 is tapping into anger at the corruption scandal and the rising cost of living.
“Lots of people feel that Najib has destroyed much that has been built for this country,” he said.
“People are calling our leader a crook. That is not something I would like to see perpetuated. It must change back to the days when we were doing well.”
Najib has sacked critics in his own government including an attorney general and deputy prime minister and muzzled the media since the corruption scandal erupted two years ago.