DR M: INSULTS DO NOT AFFECT ME
Politicians must have thick skin, says prime minister
PRIME Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said he does not mind being insulted by anyone. He said that insults directed at him did not affect him and that action should not be taken against those who made the insults.
Dr Mahathir said politicians must have a thick skin as being insulted was part and parcel of being in politics.
“I don’t mind being insulted by anybody (as it) does not affect me. Don’t take any action. Politicians must be ready to accept being called all kinds of names.
“I (was) called names even when I was the prime minister before,” he said after the launch of the 33rd Meeting of the Asean Committee on Disaster Management and the 6th Asean Ministerial Meeting on Disaster Management and Related Meetings yesterday.
Dr Mahathir was responding to the arrest of Umno Supreme Council member Datuk Lokman Noor Adam’s younger brother, who was remanded for allegedly uploading a purportedly insulting photograph of Dr Mahathir.
Police were reported to have obtained the detention order for the brother of the former Barisan Nasional candidate for the Sungai Kandis byelection to assist in investigations under Section 4 (1) of the Sedition Act.
Lokman was quoted as saying that his brother was detained for sharing a picture from his friend’s Facebook page. The picture posted shows a boy mooning at Dr Mahathir’s image on television.