Tun Dr Mahathir: “Part of efforts to disparage leaders of old.”
The influential former prime minister told reporters today that recent comments by PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu "is part of efforts to disparage leaders of old maybe because they are related to Umno and to idolise communists."
"I did not expect this to happen but unfortunately the ones who are pushing this trend is PAS. This trend has continued up to the point where they are idolising communists who killed so many of our security personnel," he said at the prime minister's Hari Raya open house.
Malaysia's longest-serving prime minister said that "there is no reason to say that communists fought for independence. They fought for independence only so they can takeover the country and turn it into a communist country."
"This is not a fight for independence. The ones who fought for independence are Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Abduk Razak and others who ensured we are free from the claws of the colonists," he added, referring to Malaysia's first two prime ministers.
He also claimed that "children in schools have been taught that Tunku Abdul Rahman is a traitor to the nation."
Although Dr Mahathir has not always seen eye-to-eye with Malaysia's first prime minister, both have been strident opposers of the communist movement in the country.
On Satuday, Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia quoted Mohamad as saying that the communists who attacked the Bukit Kepong police station during the pre-Independence communist insurgency were heroes.
The newspaper accused him of disparaging the country's armed forces and expressing support for communists but Mohamad, popularly known as Mat Sabu, has since denied the report and accused the Malay-language daily of fabricating the quote.
“Utusan lied...they made up stories about my speech,” Mohamad had told The Malaysian Insider.
“When I checked back and looked at the recording, the word ‘communist’ wasn’t found in my speech,” he said, adding that he will sue the newspaper.
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