EXCLUSIVE | Former premier Najib Abdul Razak claimed that the 1Malaysia programme to promote ethnic harmony and national unity was among the reasons which soured his relationship with Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

In an exclusive interview with Malaysiakini last week, he said Mahathir, who was aligned with the right-wing movement Perkasa at the time, felt that Najib was conceding too much to the non-Malays.

However, he noted that Mahathir who was instrumental in Perkasa's founding and its patron, changed his tune after joining Pakatan Harapan and rebranded himself as a supposed "reformist".

Asked if he believes the change is genuine or mere political opportunism, Najib pointed to Mahathir's track record.

He recalled how Mahathir used to consistently label DAP as racist and anti-Malay.

"I have not attacked DAP in that manner, I have not said DAP is anti-Malay outright, but I am concerned about some of their policies," he added.

When Malaysiakini pointed out that one of Umno's central themes during the 14th general election campaign was the demonising of DAP along the lines of race and religion, he dismissed this.

"That is the nature of the words we used.

"I did not specifically, explicitly say they were racist or anti-Malay or anti-Islam but I did express concerns about DAP because of their policies," he said.

When told that some Umno leaders did use such specific words during the campaign under his watch, Najib said Umno is a mammoth party.

"Of course there will be people expressing things in their own language," he added.

Najib said Mahathir, on the other hand, is known to demonise DAP in practically all his speeches in the past and DAP would demonise him in return.

Due to this, the former premier said he did not anticipate Mahathir and DAP joining hands.

"So when they got together, that was something I did not expect.

"(But) I suppose once you join the (then) opposition, you are sanitised. You become completely absolved of all these things as far as they are concerned," he added.

'Crooked bridge' strained ties

Meanwhile, Najib also mentioned the other factors which led to the fallout between Mahathir and him.

"We had a very good relationship. We used to spend quite a lot of time, he (Mahathir) would invite me to his house for dinner and after dinner, we would retire to his room on the upper floor of his house and sit down, talk about things.

"In the early stages after I became prime minister, around 2009 and even after the 13th general election, we were still on very good terms," he said.

However, Najib said their relationship became strained when Mahathir started asking him for certain things which he thought was difficult for him to do.

Mahathir's first request, he said, was for the crooked bridge project, a six-lane S-shaped highway meant to replace the link from Johor Baru to Singapore.

Najib said it was difficult for him to greenlight the project after his predecessor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had cancelled it.

"The project was cancelled by Pak Lah (Abdullah). It would be very hard for me to explain to the public if we restart the project, especially after hefty compensation, was already paid for the cancellation.

"That would be double jeopardy," he added.

Najib clarified that this meant that some parties related to the crooked bridge might get rewarded twice.

The former premier said though he tried to accommodate Mahathir's requests wherever he could, such as providing more funds to develop Langkawi and for Mahathir's son Mukhriz to become Kedah menteri besar, Mahathir remained unhappy with him.

"He was not happy about certain things like 1Malaysia. He was not happy about the jet. The jet was bought by Pak Lah, but I notice until today he (Mahathir) is still using it," he added.

Najib pointed out there were other policy differences that made Mahathir angry such as the abolishment of the Internal Security Act and lifting of the Emergency Ordinance, on the treatment of Proton as well as the minimum wage which Mahathir was against.

The former premier said as time went on, Mahathir's anger increased with each declined request until it resulted in a total fall-out in their relationship.

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