Mahathir running down nation with false claim, says PM’s aide

PETALING JAYA: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has run down the nation with his claim that Malaysia has become one of the 10 most corrupt countries in the world, said an aide to the Prime Minister.

Accusing Dr Mahathir of making the claim in his blog for political gain, press secretary Datuk Seri Tengku Sariffuddin Tengku Ahmad said this was contrary to Transparency International’s latest find- ings listing Malaysia as the 55th least corrupt country in the world.

Dr Mahathir, he said, was either lying or could no longer tell fact from fiction.

“Why else would he say Malaysia was in the top 10 of the most corrupt countries when it is in the top third least corrupt countries?” he said in a statement here yesterday.

Tengku Sariffuddin said the reality was that Malaysians could not believe anything “U-turn” that Dr Mahathir stated anymore.

He said to keep power, Dr Mahathir toppled his political opponents, including then deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, and jailed DAP’s Lim Kit Siang for being dangerous to the Malays.

However, the former Premier has now allied himself with both Anwar and Lim, he said.

“These U-turns by Dr Mahathir are very strange,” said Tengku Sariffuddin, adding that this was pointed out by the Sultan of Johor.

In a report on Feb 24, Sultan Ibrahim Ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar said that a certain politician used to claim the Opposition was the enemy but was now sitting at the same table with them.

The Ruler said the politician also once accused the Western media of creating stories but now claimed that these were facts.

He had also pointed out that if this outsider politician was not forgetful, then he might be a bit senile.

While the Sultan did not refer to the person by name, it was clear that the “certain outsider” was Dr Mahathir.

Dr Mahathir’s words, said Tengku Sariffuddin, were embarrassing for all to hear and he would serve his nation better by retiring quietly.