Media statement (2) by Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday, 14^th June 2012: 

No need for Mahathir to fear he will end up like Gadaffi or Mubarak

It is quite unworthy and dishonourable for Tun Dr. Mahathir to imply in his blog “My Fears” yesterday that I am “inspired by what happened to Gadaffi and Mubarak” and that I would “love” to see him “dragged to the courts and sentenced to death or to at least a life sentence” and “Maybe like Gadaffi I would be murdered”!

I do not know whether Mahathir is becoming a victim of a very fevered imagination, to the extent that he could imagine and blog that I would want him to end up like Gadaffi or Mubarak.

Nothing is furthest from my mind but I forgive Mahathir these wild and preposterous imaginings.

Mahathir started his blog yesterday: “ Lim Kit Siang is reported to have said that I am working hard to ensure the Opposition will not win because I am afraid when the Opposition Government is in place, it will act against all my ‘misdeeds’ when I was Prime Minister.”

Let me state that I stand by every word of my statement of 3rd June 2012, where I said that the former Prime Minister “has been more than his hyper-active self in the past fortnight, not only making preposterous statements about the political situation in the country but doing his utmost to fob off any possibility that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak might stick to his earlier timetable to hold 13th General Election in June/July”.

I had referred to three such preposterous statements in the previous two weeks, viz:. when Mahathir

• Made the wild and preposterous statement that the Bersih 3.0 rally was a “preparation” and “warm-up” by Pakatan Rakyat for violent demonstrations to reject the results of the 13th general election should the opposition fail to win it.

• Made another wild and preposterous statement when warning that the defeat of UMNO would be akin to the Malays losing power in their own country, when the coalition that would replace UMNO/Barisan Nasional would be Pakatan Rakyat comprising PKR, PAS and DAP;

• Returned again and again to the theme that because of the Abdullah premiership, the Najib government is still weak and not ready for the 13th General Election which he wants to be held off until after the fasting month which ends in August.

In my statement, I said:

“However, the real reason why Mahathir is so hyper-active in the past fortnight and making so many wild and preposterous statements is because the former Prime Minister is worried that the truth will be out about all the financial scandals during his 22-year premiership if Pakatan Rakyat forms the national government in next polls.”

In my statement, I not only supported a proposal that Pakatan Rakyat, if were to capture Putrajaya, should re-open investigation on the RM30 billion Bank Negara forex scandal of 1992, I went a step further and said:

“If Pakatan Rakyat forms the federal government in the next general election, there should be a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the RM30 billion Bank Negara forex losses scandal in 1992, as well as into all the other financial scandals during Mahathir’s 22-year premiership.”

I referred to Barry Wain’s book on Mahathir, “Malaysian Maverick”, where Barry estimated that Malaysia lost RM100 billion just in four financial scandals during Mahathir’s premiership.

I said Mahathir would not want and would be most afraid of full investigations into these financial scandals.

In ending my statement, I said:

“Yesterday, former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was sentenced to life imprisonment for complicity in the killing of protesters during last year's uprising.

“I am not suggesting that Mahathir should face jail sentences for the financial scandals in his 22-year premiership but at minimum, Malaysians are entitled to know the truth about these financial scandals which would serve as painful national lessons to prevent their recurrence.

“But clearly, this is what Mahathir would not want and would do his utmost to prevent, including outclassing himself in the wild and preposterous statements about Pakatan Rakyat in the run-up to the next general election.”

Let me assure the fourth Malaysian Prime Minister that there is no need for him to fear he will end up like Gadaffi or Mubarak.

I do not even want to see him in jail but he must not block full investigations into the host of financial and political scandals during his 22 years as Prime Minister – not only into infamous financial scandals under his watch but also how the key national institutions in the country like the Judiciary, the civil service, Attorney-General’s Chambers, the Police, the Anti-Corruption Agency , the Election Commission were compromised and subverted to serve the behests of one man, the Prime Minister.

Mahathir has claimed innocence to any abuse of power in his 22 years as Prime Minister. It is for him to prove his case to the nation, future generations and history.

*Lim Kit Siang, DAP Parliamentary Leader & MP for Ipoh Timor