The decision made by former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad to be with the Bersih 4 protesters over the weekend in Kuala Lumpur was because he supported the coalition's call for Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to step down.

Former Kedah menteri besar and agriculture minister Sanusi Junid said in a blog posting today noted that while Mahathir attended the Bersih 4 rally, he did not attend the National Day celebrations at the same venue.

“The main purpose of Bersih 4 is to seek Najib's stepping down. Mahathir supports this aim.

“In fact, Mahathir was the first person who asked Najib to resign or change his policy when no one else dared to. By asking Najib to resign, Bersih 4 had 'borrowed' Mahathir's theme for the rally. All this is because of the problem created by the 1MDB scandals along with the RM2.6 billion 'donation''.

“As a result of this, Najib is also responsible to the existence of the Bersih 4 program,” he said.

Sanusi ( photo ) said since Mahathir had asked Najib to step down, the issues plaguing 1MDB had spread across the world with even Foreign Minister Anifah Aman having to write to the New York Times .

Sanusi noted the whole world knew of the the establishment of the special task force tasked with investigating the 1MDB affair and which was placed under former attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail as chairperson while the MACC was also conducting its own probe.

Aside from this the PAC was also looking into the matter and had summoned several witnesses from 1MDB, including its top officers, to testify before it.

“Howver, following this we saw a democratically-elected Umno deputy president, Muhyiddin Yassin being expelled and an Umno vice-president Shafie Apdal being removed from the cabinet for being critical of Najib on the 1MDB issue,” he wrote.

Why punish Umno members?

Sanusi also noted the removal of Gani as the attorney-general, Special Branch director Akil Bulat being forced for early retirement, his deputy Abdul Hamid Bador being transferred to the Prime Minister's Department, MACC chief commissioner Abu Kassim Mohamed being asked to take leave and two MACC senior officers also being transferred to the Prime Minister's Department.

In addition to this, he noted that four PAC members were appointed to he cabinet thus effectively ending their roles in the committee and bringing its probe into 1MDB to a grinding halt.

If the controversial RM2.6 billion in Najib personal bank accounts was a political donation as alleged, Sanusi asked why then was Umno's money handled in such a way.

The ex-menteri besar also questioned if it was wise to punish an Umno member who fought for Umno's rights referring to Langkawi Umno delegate Anina Saadudin who was sacked for filing the suit against Najib seeking the return of Umno's funds.

He pointed out that foreigners could well differentiate between what was a donation and what was corruption.

“Now we see Mahathir going to the ground and this is the opportune time for him to ask the opposition to support Umno and BN in getting rid of Najib.”

Mahathir, Sanusi wrote, was at Bersih 4, as he wanted to see Najib removed as prime minister.

“As a medical doctor, Mahathir would like to remove this 'tumour' to save the country,” said the close Mahathir ally.

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