Veteran DAP leader Lim Kit Siang sought to ‘comfort’ former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad today, saying he need not fear ending up like deposed leaders Muammar Gaddafi or Hosni Mubarak but must not impede investigations into his time as prime minister.

NONE Lim’s ( left ) press release today follows a blog post by Mahathir, who suggested that Lim was “inspired” by the fates of the two former leaders of Egypt and Libya and would take pleasure in seeing the former premier jailed or sentenced to death.

Mahathir’s blog post itself was in response to a previous statement by the DAP strongman, who suggested that Mahathir was working hard to prevent the opposition from taking power out of fear that his alleged misdeeds would be exposed.

In their latest exchange, the Ipoh Timur MP assured his longtime political rival that he did not even wish to see him jailed.

“But he must not block full investigations into the host of financial and political scandals during his 22 years as prime minister,” he said, citing the RM30 billion Bank Negara forex losses scandal in 1992 as an example.

He went on to defend his previous statement, calling Mahathir’s implication “quite unworthy and dishonourable” and suggesting that he might be suffering from a “very fevered imagination”.

He also cited Malaysian Maverick , Barry Wain’s book on the former premier, as estimating RM100 billion in losses from four financial scandals during Mahathir’s tenure.

The longest-serving Malaysian prime minister would be fearful of full investigations into those scandals, he reiterated.

“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,” he added.