The Bersih 3.0 protest last Saturday, the largest public gathering since the Reformasi movement of 1999, was intended to overthrow the government, said former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

mahathir ebook launching 091211 04 "They (the opposition) know that through the election process, people will not give them the power to form the government,” he said in Putrajaya this afternoon.

"The only way is an uprising of the people to overthrow the government and install themselves as the new regime.”

Mahathir was speaking after launching the Malay version of his memoir, 'Doctor in the House: The memoirs of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad'.

The protest, he said, was to destablise the country to establish the need for regime change with the help of foreign forces.

"The disturbance is because they want to establish that the country is run by dictators ... They will be happy if foreigners bring planes and bomb Kuala Lumpur. They would say 'I have done a good thing for this country', that is what the opposition and the Bersih movement is about.”

In countries where the government has been overthrown, “99.9 percent” of the vote had gone to the incumbents in elections, he said.

However, this is not the case in Malaysia where the opposition won Selangor, Penang, Perak, Kedah and Kelantan in 2008, and Terengganu and Sabah previously.

Asked if the general election should be delayed because of the unprecedented protest, Mahathir said he is not in a position to advise Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

"I NONE am not in the business of advising the prime minister, If I could, I would because I have a lot of things on my mind that I would want him to do," he said.

If people listen, quipped Mahathir, he would advise protesters who had overturned a police car during the Bersih 3.0 protest.

'Anwar a hit and run instigator'

Responding to video footage that appears to show PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim gesturing to party deputy president Azmin Ali before the barricade at Dataran Merdeka was breached, he said this had been the same during his tenure.

NONE "That is his (Anwar's) reputation. The last time he demonstrated, when I was prime minister, he would instigate people, then he would disappear.

“That is normal, the modus operandi of Anwar Ibrahim. He instigates people and then runs away so that people cannot accuse him.”

Asked to comment on complaints of violence against journalists during the protest, he replied: "According to the people who were beaten, they said some of the demonstators hit them.

“But the opposition will say it is the police so (that) later they can say this is a police state and we must overthrow the government and install Anwar as prime minister."

He also slammed the Bar Council for making similar allegations about the police.

"The Bar Council said it is the police, so the police must be investigated. I think we should investigate the Bar Council itself, whether it is a Bar Council or a political party," he added.

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