Mahathir says election manifesto is a guide, not bible

KUALA LUMPUR: The pre-election manifesto is not a Bible that has to be followed and abided with religiously, according to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Commenting on the decision to name a non-parliamentarian as the speaker of the Dewan Rakyat as opposed to Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) promise of an MP speaker, the prime minister said certain items included in the document might not be practical to be carried out.

“Please remember the manifesto is not a bible. It’s a guide. Sometimes, we can do things, sometimes we find that we cannot. So we need to be practical-minded.

“And I think the public would prefer someone who is not related to any party,” he told reporters after the swearing-in ceremony of MPs in Parliament yesterday.

Former Court of Appeal judge Datuk Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof was sworn in as the speaker yesterday, prompting several quarters to question the decision.

PH had in its manifesto said the speaker would be appointed from among its members of Parliament.

On claims by the Opposition that the speaker’s appointment was done illegally as the name was not submitted 14 days earlier, Mahathir said those claims were false.

“There was no backdate on the speaker’s appointment. The letter to notify the Parliament has been prepared much earlier, so when I signed the letter, I merely put the date on it,” he said.

Mahathir also described the walkout by opposition MPs protesting Mohamad Ariff’s appointment as mere “drama” (sandiwara), and that they were now behaving the same way they had claimed about PH previously.

“For the first time, the ex-prime minister (Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak) walks out (of the dewan). So he now knows what it means when somebody walks out,” he said.