Malaysia’s Mahathir on snap polls, ‘ineffective’ Biden and why US is provoking Beijing over Taiwan

The former prime minister expects the graft-tainted ruling Umno to ‘win big’ in the event of an early election, adding he would fight ‘even if it’s a losing battle’

Mahathir, a critic of the West, also accused Washington of trying to provoke a war in Taiwan so that it can ‘sell a lot of arms to the island’

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Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad. Photo: AP

Published: 4:36pm, 19 Aug 2022

Former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad expects Malaysia’s graft-tainted ruling party will hold general elections in coming months – and could win big – but the nonagenarian reformer vowed on Friday that he would fight “even a losing battle” on principle.

Mahathir in an interview described President Joe Biden as “ineffective” and “anti-Islam” for supporting Israel, accused the US of trying to provoke a war in Taiwan and slammed Europe for provoking Ukraine to fight.

Mahathir said the ruling United Malays National Organisation (Umno) will most likely “win big” in the event of snap polls. He believes that many rural Malay voters have returned to Umno because they were offered money and other incentives.

“I think they will want to have the general elections this year. If possible, maybe as soon as two or three months from now because they feel that at this moment, the public still look up at them, and the opposition is broken up, disorganised,” he said.

Elections are not due until September 2023, but some Umno members, including ex-prime minister Najib Razak and party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who are both fighting graft charges, have been rallying for an earlier vote.