WITH just two days to polling day, the Prime Minister’s Office has trained its guns on opposition prime minister candidate Dr Mahathir Mohamad, reminding Malaysians of his autocratic rule while he was in power.

Caretaker prime minister Najib Razak’s press secretary, Tengku Sariffuddin Tengku Ahmad, said Dr Mahathir is a “self-confessed dictator” and “a man obsessed by control”.

“(He) thinks that, after 22 years in power, Malaysia can be run only by him, who has demonised and jailed his opponents, muzzled the media and freedom of speech, seriously damaged the education system, created a class of crony capitalists, interfered in the electoral system, and bent the judiciary to his will by suspending the Supreme Court, sacking the senior judiciary when they didn’t agree with him and changing the constitution,” he said in a statement posted on the PMO Malaysia Facebook page.

“This is a man who routinely throws outrageous and false allegations against whoever his opponent is, even calling the prime minister a thief without any evidence whatsoever.”

He said Pakatan Harapan chairman Dr Mahathir is now on a mission to topple Barisan Nasional because his son, Mukhriz Mahathir, lost badly in the 2013 Umno elections.

“Having failed to pave the way for his son, Dr Mahathir is now working with the opposition out of desperation.”

Tengku Sariffuddin, pointing out the “grand deception” of PH, said the opposition pact’s “reformasi campaign” was created to oppose Dr Mahathir, and many of its leaders had been jailed by him.

“The reality is that DAP holds the vast majority of the opposition’s parliamentary seats, compared with the single seat held by Dr Mahathir’s party (Bersatu), therefore, (DAP) controls the coalition.

“DAP is using the nonagenarian as camouflage to split the Malay vote,” he said, using the Barisan Nasional narrative peddled to Malay voters that PH is run by the Chinese-majority DAP.

“Should they win, they will never let Dr Mahathir become prime minister – they know him too well. And, having initially promised to hand power to Anwar Ibrahim after six months, Dr Mahathir is already saying at least two to three years.”

He reiterated BN’s track record under Najib, who came to power in 2009, of boosting Malaysia’s economic growth, reducing poverty and upholding democracy by repealing repressive laws, such as the Internal Security Act.

“The truth is, if the opposition ever tries to form a government, their ideological differences would tear them apart, and their irresponsible and populist economic policies would bankrupt the country.

“It would be a disaster for Malaysia. The Malaysian people are wiser than to allow it.” – May 7, 2018.