I will never return to 'badly damaged' Umno, says Dr Mahathir

Updated 6 years ago · Published on 28 Jul 2017 5:38PM · 2 Comments

DR Mahathir Mohamad will never return to Umno, even if its president  Prime Minister Najib Razak is ousted because it is a party that has broken down and strayed from its purpose.

On a video posted on the Bersatu Facebook page, the former Umno president said although he originally left his old party with the aim of removing Najib from power, he realised that the party was “rosak teruk” (badly broken-down) because of Najib.

“The party now places more importance on itself, on money and such. It is no longer the champion of religion, race and country,” said Dr Mahathir, who is now Bersatu chairman.

He said due to all this, the party was no longer the Umno of old.

“It has been shaped by Najib and it now has completely different aims from before.

“Because of this, I will never return to Umno.

“This is an Umno that has broken down and that which prefers to struggle for ‘dedak’ instead of for religion, race and country.” 

Dr Mahathir, who was recently made chairman of Pakatan Harapan recently, is still fending off doubts about his sincerity towards the coalition.

Some in the opposition are openly sceptical about the recently struck up partnership between him and de facto PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim, whom Dr Mahathir sacked as his deputy prime minister in 1998 and then had jailed for sodomy.

Some have also brought up the financial scandals that broke out during the Mahathir administration; they have urged Pakatan to make an investigation into the former prime minister a part of its election manifesto.

Dr Mahathir quit Umno on February 29 last year, declaring he was “too embarrassed” to be associated with a party that was seen to be supporting corruption.

Dr Mahathir had accused Najib of “hijacking” Umno to stay in power and out of jail over the 1Malaysia Development Bhd financial scandal.

Back then, Dr Mahathir had said that he would not be joining another party and would return to Umno if it was “revived”. 

“I am, at heart, still Umno,” he had said then. – July 28, 2017.
 

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Comments

  • #"ROSAK TERUK" t needs to be dumped for all the good sundries and ultimate wellbeing of the erstwhile Innocent Malaysia, now badly lost & sorely missed.

    Posted 6 years ago by Musang Wang · Reply

  • When dr.m says that he is not going to go back to BN because "the party now places more importance on itself, on money and such.", it leaves me wondering how is he going to make sure Pakatan Harapan itself does not become a party that places more importance on itself, money and as such. PH afterall, is a party of moderates just like BN is a party of moderates. It is difficult for me to believe that the disease that ails the moderates in one party will not effect the moderates in another party just because they are in another party.
    The thing is Dr.M is 90 something years old. He is a very old man. If he was younger perhaps he would have the strength to force his followers to toe to line, but at 90 you have to wonder just how much control can he exert on his followers .
    I think PH will be better than BN, and i hope they win the next GE , but i don't think that PH will be better than BN for very long. I think PH is like panadol to a migraine - it is a temporary help that might buy us sometime to find a more permanent solution, but it itself is not the solution.

    Posted 6 years ago by Nehru Sathiamoorthy · Reply