So Dr M, where are the smart people in Umno?

YOURSAY 'Those who are smart will walk away from associating with race-based politics that tend many times to become racist.'

Let smart people rise in politics, says Mahathir

Karma: Sadly, there are not many smart people in Umno or many smart people do not join Umno. Those who are smart will walk away from associating with race-based politics.

It is a sin to be racist but yet crossing the line and paying for it like Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia did, appears to be nothing them. They even bragged that they did it to support Umno despite committing a sin.

Cantabrigian: Umno is just a club for people who would like to make easy money. They may be stupid in terms of administration or executing good policies, but they are brilliant when it comes to abuse of power, corruption and backstabbing.

Hajile Leumas: Dr Mahathir Mohamad was prime minister for 22 years Now who is calling the kettle black.

Mahathir is inadvertently admitting that he was there for so long because his successor was more stupid than him.

Nevertheless, he has a point there and those old horses ought to take heed and graciously bow out before they become senile.

Apa Ini?: If anyone "overstayed" his welcome, it is Mahathir and Umno continues to be manipulated by his divisive policies. He certainly made sure his henchmen were all ‘stupider' than him.

Anonymous_4009: This is a case of do as I tell you, but don't do as I do.

R Venugopal: Let smart people rise and this refers to his children. It is a polite way of saying that his children are smarter and therefore Umno leaders must give way to them.

Siang Malam: Smart people should stay, stupid ones to leave Umno. So, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, isn't the message from Mahathir obvious to you? Apa lagi mahu?

Kangaroocourt: Hmm... how was it that your deputies such as Musa Hitam, Ghafar Baba and Anwar Ibrahim never reached the top? And Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Najib Abdul Razak always need to look over their shoulders to get a cue?

Unspin: To differentiate between the smart and not-so-smart people, Umno should hold a series of debates among the candidates vying for the top posts to discuss economic and social matters such as economic transformation, fiscal deficit, education, healthcare, poverty eradication, illegal immigration, judicial independence and freedom.

At the moment, the criteria for selection are based on the sickening rhetoric of race and religion and money politics to the detriment of all Malaysians.

NoBN4me: The culture left behind by a PM who overstayed is now adopted by Umno. It will be difficult to change as it has been embedded in Umno's genes for the last 30 years. He was the one who planted the virus.

'Don't forget that Chin Peng opposed democracy'

Geronimo: Mahathir, you are one who lives up to the 'mudah lupa' syndrome right to the 't'. It was you who agreed to the signing of the Haadyai Peace Pact with Chin Peng, and now you deem it fit to condemn the man who is already dead.

You already knew he was a communist, but why, for heaven's sake did you go ahead with the signing of the agreement?

Without your consent, former inspector-general of police Abdul Rahim Noor would not have inked the Agreement on behalf of the Malaysian government.

Gerard Lourdesamy: International agreements must be honoured, however, despicable the past conduct of one of the parties to the agreement may have been.

The government delayed approving Chin Peng's return so that the two-year grace period under the Agreement would expire forcing Chin Peng to go to the courts.

But without any documentary proof except for the recognition accorded to him under the Agreement, he was unable to prove that he was a Malaysian citizen.

While it cannot be denied that Chin Peng's continuation of the armed struggle after 1957 was not justified, his contributions towards the liberation of the country from Japanese occupation and later British colonialism ought to be recognised.

No doubt his ambition was to create a communist state but if the Alliance in 1955 had agreed to allow the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) to participate in political activities, they would not have got elected anyway and at least the armed struggle would have been unnecessary.

Quigonbond: Dr M, Umno hasn't answered why other terrorists were allowed to be buried in Malaysia. History is not often that clear cut. Chin Peng was a terrorist, a communist, but he also fought Japanese occupation.

If you don't even concede that Chin Peng was of some use, then it's the same as saying while you're the father of modernisation but at the same time the father of Malaysia's grand regression into an autocratic and corrupt state, Malaysians should only remember the worst aspect of yourself.

Umno should be heartened instead that Malaysians can still express some measure of gratitude even to villains.

Cala: While Mahathir falls in love with democracy, in reality, he the last person on earth who practices democracy. To him, everything is justified which goes against democracy as long as he brings race and racism to lord over the minorities.

Such is Mahathir's warped logic, obtuse reasoning, and moronic arguments. Deep inside him, he is self-interested, self-centric and self-serving.

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