Mahathir slams Muhyiddin over probes into his allies as Malaysia’s power tussle deepens

Mahathir Mohamad says the allegedly arbitrary investigations are an ‘abuse’ of the government’s powers and resemble tactics employed during the Najib Razak era

Mahathir and Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin both belong to Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, which is divided into two factions

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Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. Photo: Bernama/dpa

Published: 6:58pm, 5 Jun 2020Updated: 1:02am, 6 Jun 2020

Malaysia’s Mahathir Mohamad, who is gunning to oust Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, on Friday slammed the government for “abusing” its official powers to initiate arbitrary investigations against his supporters to gain an upper hand in the escalating power struggle between the two political leaders.

The elder statesman said the alleged abuses rekindled memories of the days of the previous Najib Razak government that Mahathir and Muhyiddin joined hands to defeat in Malaysia’s 2018 general election.

In a hastily convened press conference, the 94-year-old former leader said the Muhyiddin administration had been putting pressure on his supporters from the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) by arbitrarily calling them up for corruption investigations.

The party is divided into two factions backing Mahathir and Muhyiddin. Mahathir cited the detention of one of his supporters by the anti-corruption agency for four days, and another case where a woman was questioned “in a dark room” by several men.

This is the same thing that Najib was doing before. They abuse the law and they make use of the law in order to apply pressure on people

Mahathir Mohamad

“We are seeing several government departments being used to apply pressure on us, the opposition. We are the opposition now, and we find that some government departments are doing things which, well, constitute an abuse of their authority,” Mahathir told reporters.