He’s back. After six years of unofficial banishment from Umno, former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad today spoke at a party function for the first time.
The occasion - officiating a motivational course organised by Pandan Umno division. The place - Institut Latihan Memperkasakan Umno in Janda Baik, Pahang, a 50-minute drive east of Kuala Lumpur.
“This is the first time in six years after stepping down (as premier) that I have the opportunity to address Umno members,” said Mahathir, who was clad in a red and white short-sleeve shirt.
He was apparently trying to make a point - red and white are after all the party colours.
The former Umno strongman arrived at the sleepy hallow of Janda Baik with a police escort in his silver SUV bearing the number plate ‘MM1'.
Soon after stepping down in 2003, Mahathir went on a warpath against his hand-picked deputy, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and this resulted in the ex-PM being shunned by many party leaders.
He had repeatedly complained of being barred from speaking at party functions in the bid to stop him from pouring scorn on Abdullah.
Mahathir’s supporters eventually resorted to holding thinly-disguised dialogues, forums and ceramah to cater for party members eager to hear him speak.
At the height of his tiff with Abdullah, Mahathir resigned from the party, only to return the day after Najib Abdul Razak was sworn in as the sixth prime minister two months ago.
Umno’s No 1 enemy - corruption
Unlike the bitter ex-premier which Malaysians have gotten use to over the recent years, the 300 Pandan Umno members had a dose of vintage Mahathir who gave them a fatherly-like lecture about corruption within the party.
According to Mahathir, public confidence in Umno was being eroded from within due to party leaders doling money to delegates in return for votes.
“If a person gains a position due to corruption, Umno members may still support him, but our supporters outside the party won’t. That is what Najib wants (to address). He wants to clean up Umno,” said Mahathir.
A case in point, said Mahathir, was that certain Umno office bearers were unable to campaign in recent by-elections due to the stigma of being a vote-buyer at the party polls.
“What is the point of having elected leaders who can’t join the elections campaign?” he asked.
He cites his own experience of being a victim of corruption in 2007 during the Kubang Pasu division elections of delegates to the Umno annual general assembly.
In that incident, members of the division which he had led for over two decades were allegedly bribed RM200 to vote against him, which Mahathir argues showed the extent of how widespread corruption was in the party.
He was slapped with the humiliation of failing to win enough votes to qualify as a delegate.
“If we are this greedy, we deserved to be ‘hapuskan’ (wiped out) from this country. Thus, we must declare a war on corruption,” he said.
Will Dr M skip Manek Urai?
Meanwhile, in his speech, Mahathir also scoffed at Umno’s attempts at cajoling PAS into forming a unity government.
“We have tried in the past to include PAS in Barisan Nasional. But they focus more on their party than the Malays, religion or country. This is their attitude,” he said.
Should Umno and PAS join forces, the non-Malays would react similarly and this would not be good for the country, said Mahathir.
“This is not the answer. Malay unity does not guarantee a better future. Only with proper values and efforts to curb corruption will secure our future,” he said.
Speaking to reporters after the event, Mahathir again stressed that Umno ought to be introspective.
“I would prefer it if we showed effort to restore Umno’s credibility to its members and supporters (outside the party). They determine if we win or lose (in the elections),” he said.
He said this in response to a question on whether he would campaign for the July 14 Manek Urai by-election.
The occasion - officiating a motivational course organised by Pandan Umno division. The place - Institut Latihan Memperkasakan Umno in Janda Baik, Pahang, a 50-minute drive east of Kuala Lumpur.
“This is the first time in six years after stepping down (as premier) that I have the opportunity to address Umno members,” said Mahathir, who was clad in a red and white short-sleeve shirt.
He was apparently trying to make a point - red and white are after all the party colours.The former Umno strongman arrived at the sleepy hallow of Janda Baik with a police escort in his silver SUV bearing the number plate ‘MM1'.
Soon after stepping down in 2003, Mahathir went on a warpath against his hand-picked deputy, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and this resulted in the ex-PM being shunned by many party leaders.
He had repeatedly complained of being barred from speaking at party functions in the bid to stop him from pouring scorn on Abdullah.
Mahathir’s supporters eventually resorted to holding thinly-disguised dialogues, forums and ceramah to cater for party members eager to hear him speak.
At the height of his tiff with Abdullah, Mahathir resigned from the party, only to return the day after Najib Abdul Razak was sworn in as the sixth prime minister two months ago.
Umno’s No 1 enemy - corruption
Unlike the bitter ex-premier which Malaysians have gotten use to over the recent years, the 300 Pandan Umno members had a dose of vintage Mahathir who gave them a fatherly-like lecture about corruption within the party.
According to Mahathir, public confidence in Umno was being eroded from within due to party leaders doling money to delegates in return for votes.
“If a person gains a position due to corruption, Umno members may still support him, but our supporters outside the party won’t. That is what Najib wants (to address). He wants to clean up Umno,” said Mahathir.
A case in point, said Mahathir, was that certain Umno office bearers were unable to campaign in recent by-elections due to the stigma of being a vote-buyer at the party polls.
“What is the point of having elected leaders who can’t join the elections campaign?” he asked.
He cites his own experience of being a victim of corruption in 2007 during the Kubang Pasu division elections of delegates to the Umno annual general assembly.
In that incident, members of the division which he had led for over two decades were allegedly bribed RM200 to vote against him, which Mahathir argues showed the extent of how widespread corruption was in the party.
He was slapped with the humiliation of failing to win enough votes to qualify as a delegate.
“If we are this greedy, we deserved to be ‘hapuskan’ (wiped out) from this country. Thus, we must declare a war on corruption,” he said.
Will Dr M skip Manek Urai?
Meanwhile, in his speech, Mahathir also scoffed at Umno’s attempts at cajoling PAS into forming a unity government.
“We have tried in the past to include PAS in Barisan Nasional. But they focus more on their party than the Malays, religion or country. This is their attitude,” he said.
Should Umno and PAS join forces, the non-Malays would react similarly and this would not be good for the country, said Mahathir.
“This is not the answer. Malay unity does not guarantee a better future. Only with proper values and efforts to curb corruption will secure our future,” he said.
Speaking to reporters after the event, Mahathir again stressed that Umno ought to be introspective.
“I would prefer it if we showed effort to restore Umno’s credibility to its members and supporters (outside the party). They determine if we win or lose (in the elections),” he said.
He said this in response to a question on whether he would campaign for the July 14 Manek Urai by-election.
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