‘Govt not trying to erase Dr M’s legacy’

PETALING JAYA: Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak has questioned former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s claim that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak is trying to erase his legacy by killing off national carmaker, Proton.

Salleh said if the claim was true, there would be many other legacies of the 91-year-old that needs to be destroyed.

“If the government is keen to destroy his legacy, KLCC would also have to be demolished. However the government today is based on the ‘people first’ policy, which is to develop facilities that benefit the rakyat overall and not for a selected group of people, as happened during (Mahathir)’s administration,” he said in response to a recent blog posting by Mahathir.

Salleh said the role Mahathir played in launching Proton, which produced the first national car the Proton Saga in 1985, cannot be denied.

While denying the government is trying to shut Proton down, Salleh said the government had loaned RM1.5 billion to the national carmaker in April.

“The injection was to help the automotive company to pay its vendors,” he said.

On Wednesday, Mahathir posted on his blog that the government was trying to erase his name from Proton by preventing its staff from having any contact with him or his supporters.

“My name cannot be tied to Proton. It has to be 100% sold to foreigners so that the national car industry is eliminated. Only imported cars should be sold in Malaysia,” he said in his posting.