Malaysia PM says ‘big quarrel’ with Najib kept his mind active

Kuala Lumpur: It appears Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Najib Razak had a role in keeping his successor’s mind acitive.

“I had a big quarrel with the previous Prime Minister. So all the time my brain is actively thinking about ways and means to change the government,” said Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

“So when you keep on thinking, using your brain, that means you will not lose your memory, like you often see in old people.”

Mr Mahathir was speaking on Saturday at the opening of a conference called Ageing, Learning and Technology: Enriching Lives Connecting Communities.

At 93 years old, he is the world’s oldest PM. Mr Mahathir said his political comeback after retirement was motivated by the people’s desire to change the previous government.

“Two weeks after I retired, people came to see me. They were not happy with my successor. They asked me, can you do something about it?

“So I started doing something. I became very active. Of course when that successor eventually gave up, we had a second man to succeed the first man after me.

“Unfortunately again people came to see me and said please do something. First I tried to advise but it did not work. Then I decided I can’t have this man as my leader so I left the party (UMNO),” he said.

Najib, meanwhile, is facing more than 30 charges over the suspicious transfer of funds from state fund 1MDB and its former subsidiary into his personal bank account.