Salleh: Mahathir's urging for foreign intervention a desperate act
Communication and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak has called former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's urging for foreign pressure to get Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to step down "a final desperate act".
"This is an alarming new development and I am very surprised that Mahathir should even suggest this," he wrote in a blog post today.
He related that back when Mahathir was the PM, any foreign country or government that said anything about Malaysia, would have borne the brunt of Mahathir's caustic retaliation, telling them that they have no business interfering in our domestic affairs.
In fact, Salleh said that during Mahathir’s time, if any local political activist were to work with a foreign government to criticise Malaysia, he or she would be detained on grounds of "treason" and accused of working with foreign powers to bring down the democratically elected government.
"Mahathir is now saying that the end justifies the means and that we must do anything possible just as long as we meet our objectives of bringing down the prime minister outside the constitutional process.
"In that case no leader is safe if all we need to do to topple a leader is to invite foreign powers to interfere in the country’s domestic matters," sniped the minister.
Salleh hoped that Mahathir is not purposely trying to set himself for arrest to gain public sympathy when he told The Weekend Australian that there was little hope that Najib would step down without outside pressure.
Mahathir had reportedly said that while he normally don’t like foreign interference in Malaysian affairs, the avenues for redress locally has been closed completely, requiring foreign pressure to help see Najib step down or removed from power.
The good doctor has been unceasing in his campaign to urge Najib's resignation or removal, even working hand in hand with his former rivals in the opposition, including allying with his former deputy and present PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim, to do so.
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