Dr M: Up to BN to decide on Penanti

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said it is up to Barisan Nasional to decide if it wants to contest in the upcoming Penanti by-election.

He claimed he has no influence over the government, to tell it to contest the by-election.

"No, no, no, they are free to decide. They don't consult me. But I have the right to talk," he said after delivering a lecture titled ‘MSC and Leadership in the Information Age' in Cyberjaya today.

He refuted media reports that he will be leading the campaign for BN in the by-election.

"It was the (media) reports that said so," he said.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had said that contesting the by-election would be a waste of public funds and that the BN will not do so if coalition partners agree on this.

Mahathir is against giving opposition parties a walkover, stating that it is important for BN to contest in the by-election.

He also said it is “obvious” that Najib does not depend on him for advice, as evident in the appointment of certain individuals as minister and deputy minister.

“For example, he appointed ministers and deputy ministers (who) frankly (laughs) don’t deserve to be ministers because they are (allegedly) involved in corruption,” he said.

But pressed for names, Mahathir retorted, “I won’t tell you.”

When a journalist brought up the names of Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz (left) and Johari Baharum, Mahathir admitted that the two are among those he has in mind.

“Nazri was nasty to me, so of course, I don’t like him. Johari had this accusation against him, that he accepted RM5 million to release certain people.

“Of course, he was cleared but some people still feel that he is not the kind of person that we should make into a deputy minister.”

Nazri, who was reappointed de facto law minister by Najib (left) during the cabinet reshuffle earlier this month, had once engaged in a protracted war of words with Mahathir over the latter’s spat with then Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Nazri, who had also served in Mahathir’s cabinet, was among the chief critics of Mahathir’s attacks over Abdullah’s policies.

Johari was probed in 2007 for allegedly accepting RM5 million to free five individuals who were detained without trial under the Emergency Ordinance, when he was deputy internal security minister.

However, he was cleared of wrongdoing and is now the deputy agriculture and agro-based industries minister.

‘Bridge will boost Iskandar’

On renewed interest in the ‘crooked bridge’ project, Mahathir said that if it is completed, it would complement the ongoing Iskandar Malaysia development project in Johor.

“We don’t have to cut back (on the Iskandar project). If you build the bridge, the Iskandar project will really take off. If you don’t build the bridge, there will be traffic jams.

“The bridge was designed to overcome traffic jams. But now the traffic jams are worse and the CIQ (Customs, Immigration and Quarantine) building cannot be used because it is in the opposite direction.”

The bridge, intended to replace the current Causeway to Singapore, is Mahathir’s brainchild that was scrapped by Abdullah

Abdullah initiated the Iskandar Malaysia project, which Mahathir had initially dubbed a ‘satellite city’ for Singapore on Malaysian soil.