Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has distanced himself from former Kedah menteri besar Sanusi Junid's claim that he had adopted Nazi Germany's anti-Jewish policy to consolidate Malaysia's banking industry.

 

Speaking to reporters today, Mahathir said Sanusi had applied his own interpretation of the former's policy but stressed that the policy was not designed to go against non-Malay interests.

 

NONE "It may be regarded as (similar to the) anti-Jew (policy), but the purpose was to develop Malaysia. It is not 'anti-non-Malay'.

 

"During my time, I won the election in 1999 because non-Malays supported me. The Malays refused to support me.  

 

"They thought I was unfair to Anwar. He got a black eye from (me)," he told reporters after delivering a speech at Universiti Malaya.

Sanusi: Anwar botched it for us

Earlier today, Sanusi delivered a speech at the Malay Economic Congress in which he claimed that Mahathir had emulated Nazi Germany's policy of limiting Jewish financial influence by denying them banking licences.  

 

"We thought that if we can't control the economy, we would follow Germany... In Germany, banking licences were not given to the Jews," said Sanusi, according to The Malaysian Insider .

 

sanusi junid 050608 Sanusi, once a member of Mahathir's cabinet, said then-finance minister Daim Zainuddin had made sure all banks, including those owned by non-Malays, had Malay directors to ensure that the industry had Malay influence.  

 

"But unfortunately, a huge disaster happened. When Anwar (Ibrahim) became finance minister, he approved banking licences for Alliance Bank and Hong Leong bank," said Sanusi.

 

Effectively, said Sanusi, Anwar had thwarted the plan to ensure that the all banks had Malay influence.  

 

Following the 1997 financial crisis, Mahathir had engineered a massive banking industry restructuring which saw several banks being merged, ostensibly to withstand pressures from a globalised market.

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