Mahathir: Umno will not be destroyed even if Najib is toppled

KUALA LUMPUR: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad told the High Court he did not think that his attempt to topple Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak would destroy Umno.

The former prime minister admitted that he had been trying to bring down Najib since 2014, but added that the attempt would not destroy Umno. He claimed that Najib had brought disrepute to the party.

Dr Mahathir, 92, who is chairman of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM), said this yesterday when responding to a question from counsel Datuk Seri Jahaberdeen Mohamed Yunoos during crossexamination in the hearing of a defamation suit filed by his son, Datuk Seri Mukhriz, against Datuk Seri Tengku Sarifuddin Tengku Ahmad, who is Najib’s press secretary.

Dr Mahathir, the second witness of plaintiff Mukhriz, also said that one of the three vicepresidents of Umno could be appointed by the Umno president to be the deputy prime minister.

Earlier Mukhriz, when asked about his con testing an Umno vicepresident post and the interpretation by Umno members that he had the intention to become prime minister, said: “Although it is a stepping stone, there is no guarantee one can be the prime minister.

“I think Umno members are aware that contesting a post of vicepresident is no guarantee to be the prime minister.”

Mukhriz told the court that his father had never encouraged him to be active in politics but he had his own reasons for doing so.

Represented by counsel Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla, Mukhriz filed the suit on May 3, 2016, claiming that Tengku Sarifuddin had issued two statements of a defamatory nature against him in April of that year.

He said the statements implied that Dr Mahathir and Muhyiddin conspired in a malicious campaign to topple a legally elected government and that the plaintiff was involved directly in the plot.

The next hearing, before Justice Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim, was fixed for Oct 19 and 20. — Bernama