YOURSAY ‘It’s time to provoke the tiger to strike back at the old wounded tiger.’

Lee Hup: Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad says the people must criticise its leaders. He says he criticised the leaders in the past from Tunku Abdul Rahman right up to Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (Pak Lah).

That may be true. But the circumstances were different. Mahathir criticised Tunku because he was too ‘soft’ on the Chinese, so said Mahathir at that time in the letters he wrote to Tunku, which got him sacked from Umno.

Soon after the May 2013 general election, Mahathir said the same thing about Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

In 2004, BN performed the best in its history. No prime minister had ever won an election with that type of majority since Merdeka.

But then Mahathir was still not happy with Pak Lah and in 2006 he launched an attack on him. This resulted in the 2008 election disaster for BN.

To discredit Pak Lah, Mahathir said Pak Lah was not running the country himself and instead the country was being run by the ‘4K-government’: Kak Endon (Pak Lah’s wife), Khairy Jamaluddin (his son-in-law), Kamal (his son) and Kalimullah Hassan (said to be Pak Lah’s spin-doctor).

Now it is Najib’s turn and the same strategy is being applied. Bring down Najib by discrediting those around him - his wife, his stepson, and all the others.

Ksn: Let the man ride the tiger and when he gets off the tiger - if he can - the tiger will take care of him.

Mahathir is a has-been and should be treated with contempt for the damage he has inflicted on the country. Let me state here that I am not defending Najib.

Ferdtan: Let us provoke the tiger to strike back at the old wounded tiger who is still potent in his ways.

There is no need for expensive beer-drinking foreign advisers to come up with a plan. We can give our advice for free. We just cannot resist the fight of the century if it were to happen, if only Najib has it in him to fight back.

A leader is nothing without his followers. And Mahathir is nothing without his loyal lieutenants like Ibrahim Ali, Daim Zainuddin, A Kadir Jasin and recently seen at his side, the hateful Ridhuan Tee Abdullah.

We know what makes these has-been Umno leaders and their cronies tick; not money - they have plenty. Get the police to visit their homes at dawn like what they did to the opposition leaders.

Though we are not in support of such unfair tactics, once a while we would like to enjoy seeing fireworks on the other side of the fence.

KiniTV: The irony of this is, no matter how nasty or poisonous Mahathir’s comments are, no one dares to touch him. How come?

Over50ABU: Mahathir is not saving the country but his own dynasty. A change of the prime minister is not going to change the corrupt ways of Umno. We want a change of government, not the prime minister.

Why is Mahathir the only one allowed to criticise the government without being arrested for sedition? Who is he to say who should be the prime minister when he himself failed miserably?

Anonymous_1391693662: Indeed, it no use if only the prime minister steps down. It should be a complete overhaul in the party. Only then, will Umno will be effective.

_Edward_: The parts that I respect Najib most are the following (in descending order). It takes super guts to do what is right and not what is popular, and no one else ever dared do in Malaysia's history.

1) Changing blanket fuel subsidy system to targeted direct cash transfer. Mahathir’s reign was in an era of net oil exports and lower domestic fuel consumption. Najib's period is of net oil imports and high domestic fuel consumption. Subsidies simply had to go.

2) Imposing GST and reducing corporate and income tax. For decades, people talked about imposing GST but no one had the guts. Najib knew it had to be done and did it.

3) Removing 30 percent bumiputera requirements for IPOs (initial public offerings). For decades, this was one of the main reasons why many companies refused to list in Malaysia or set up their headquarters here. Removing this rule in the stock market took great guts.

Maplesyrup: But Najib is doing such a bad job that, love or hate Mahathir, Malaysians will be rooting for the former premier.

People of Selangor: If I were Najib, I would release Anwar immediately and form a team to wipe out the Mahathir gang for good.

Blue Moon: As the title of the piece states, Najib is effectively powerless to stop this onslaught. Lesser mortals have been jailed, sued or passed on; but not Mahathir.

Those who have everything to lose must be shaking in their boots. One bad by-product of all this is that more money and resources will have to be spent (to stay in power) and the man in the street, as always, will suffer.

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