MALAYSIA’s ambassador to the US Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz has called for action to be taken against former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad under the Sedition Act for his harsh criticisms against the government of the day.
Nazri further accused Dr Mahathir of instigating the people to hate the current government by stating that the unity government should not be afraid of taking action against the former prime minister (PM).
Nazri also pointed out that during Dr Mahathir’s tenure as premier, anyone who held gatherings to criticise the government was considered as going against his administration and could potentially be held under the Internal Security Act (ISA).
The former Tourism and Culture Minister cited Parti Bumiputera Perkasa Malaysia (PUTRA) president Datuk Dr Ibrahim Ali who was detained under the controversial Ops Lalang in 1987 during Dr Mahathir’s first stint as PM which lasted 22 years.
Nazri’s statement comes following Dr Mahathir’s remark that the government was behind the cancellation of the booking of three to four venues for his planned “Malay Proclamation” gathering last Sunday (March 19).
However, the former Langkawi MP did not provide evidence to back his claims.
Nazri, who is also the Padang Rengas UMNO chief, elaborated that stopping gatherings from taking place is nothing new to the 98-year-old Dr Mahathir since he was guilty of doing so multiple times during his 22-year reign from 1981 to 2003.
The former UMNO MP also questioned Dr Mahathir’s “sudden” concern for the Malays whom he had previously accused of being lazy. He recalled that during Dr Mahathir’s second stint as PM under the Pakatan Harapan (PH) rule, he again made fun of and insulted the Malays by claiming that they were lazy.
Nazri also reminded Dr Mahathir to stop advocating democracy and lambasting Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s administration as he is least qualified to do so.
Ironically, former premier and his disciple Datuk Seri Najib Razak had over the weekend given his mentor a dose of his own medicine after the later branded Anwar’s unity government as a “dictatorship”. The now incarcerated former Pekan MP said he ‘had a laugh of his life’ when “Mr ISA (referring to Dr Mahathir) calls others dictators”. – March 21, 2023
Main pic credit: Malaysiakini/kiniTV
