But today Dr Mahathir hit out at the Najib administration for “not listening to the voice of the people” when it decided to abandon the policy of teaching science and mathematics in English.
“I am not surprised over the disappointment and even anger towards the government’s decision on the teaching of maths and science,” he said.
“Seems to me like the government is not listening to the voice of the people,” the former prime minister said in a short posting on his blog today.
Dr Mahathir also appeared to be planning a campaign to stop the government from reversing a policy he had initiated six years ago just before he retired.
He has started a poll to ask readers of his blog if they supported or opposed the decision to now revert to teaching science and mathematics in Bahasa Melayu.
A separate poll conducted recently of voters in peninsular Malaysia by the independent Merdeka Centre showed that a majority of Malaysians wanted English to remain as the medium of instruction for the two subjects.
But yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced the government’s decision to scrap the policy, bowing to pressure from nationalists and education activists.
Dr Mahathir, who had been informed by the DPM prior to the announcement, said yesterday that his recommendations were not taken into consideration.
He had suggested the government at least keep English as the medium of instruction for secondary schools.
The former PM also punched holes in the government’s arguments, and pointed out that if the government was now going to train more English teachers, they could also train science and mathematics teachers in the same language as well.
Dr Mahathir had been a strident critic of the Abdullah Badawi administration, and his attacks against the last prime minister had contributed significantly to the latter’s eventual downfall.
Last year, Malaysia’s longest serving PM even quit Umno and only rejoined the party this year when Najib took office. Since then Najib has taken pains to pay homage to Dr Mahathir.
But in recent weeks, Dr Mahathir had begun to seethe over some of Najib’s decisions.
Besides ignoring Dr Mahathir and deciding to skip the recent Penanti by-election, Najib has also disregarded the former PM over the “crooked bridge” to Singapore.
Dr Mahathir had also recently come out to say that the liberalization of the economy was not the right move by Najib.
The ongoing attempt by the Najib administration in trying to appoint his aide Omar Mustapha to the board of Petronas has also irritated Dr Mahathir who is still the national oil company’s adviser.
But with the flip-flop on the government’s English policy, Dr Mahathir appears to be preparing to strike back.
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