DR Mahathir Mohamad said his decision to step down as prime minister in 2003 was his biggest regret in his 80 years of national politics.

“(Because) I never imagined that people who succeeded me or came after me would be doing things that are just not right and had created unease among the people,” the former prime minister said in clear reference to his successor Abdullah Badawi and Najib Razak.

He said this in a live interview by prominent columnist Johan Jaafar over Sinar Harian’s various media platforms.

“Nobody asked me to resign. I was still popular and I had the support of two-thirds of the MPs (then).”

Mahathir, whose first stint as prime minister was from July 1981 to October 2003 and the second from May 2018 to March 2020, said he made the decision because of his age.

“I felt I was old. I was then in my 70s.

“I was thinking maybe it’s time for me to step down. Take a break. Take a rest,” he said.

He denied having personal problems with his successors Abdullah and Najib, or even with Malaysia’s preceding prime ministers because of their personalities.

“I will support them if what they are doing is right,” he said, adding that he personally picked Abdullah to succeed him and had endorsed Najib when Abdullah stepped down.

“I would support them for their performance.”

Dr Mahathir said he had differences with the country’s first prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, even though he was highly respected for bringing independence to the country.

“But when he started doing things I don’t agree with (I did not support him). It’s not because I don’t like Tunku as a person. It’s because I didn’t like (some of the things) he was doing.”

The two-time prime minister said his principle was never to give blind loyalty to a leader.

“That’s my principle, which I hold strongly to. We should be loyal to (them) when (they) do the right things.”

With Najib, Dr Mahathir quit Umno over the latter’s alleged corruption scandals involving state investment firm 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), and allied with Pakatan Harapan parties to topple Barisan Nasional from federal power in 2018.

In July last year, the High Court convicted Najib of abuse of power, money laundering and criminal breach of trust, and handed him 12 years in jail and fined RM210 million for transferring RM42million from SRC International, a company related to 1MDB, into his personal bank account.

He becomes the first prime minister to be convicted of corruption. – February 17, 2021.