Mahathir: PN still trying to get me on board, but I can't do it
INTERVIEW | There are ongoing attempts to bring him into the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has revealed.
In an interview with Malaysiakini yesterday, Mahathir said the overtures cannot be accepted because there were "criminals" on the government bench.
Mahathir said he had been receiving such overtures even before the change of government in March last year.
"But I cannot [...] I have made promises to the people. I promised the rakyat that we (Pakatan Harapan) wanted to bring down Najib (Abdul Razak). So, I cannot work with Najib.
"The (ruling) party today would collapse without the support of Najib and several others in what we call the 'court cluster'. The so-called Malay-Muslim government is dependent on the non-Malays and secondly, dependent upon criminals.
"I cannot be associated with that," he said.
Apart from Najib, the Pekan MP, other Umno leaders facing criminal trials are president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (Bagan Datuk), Sabah head Bung Mokhtar Mohd (Kinabatangan), Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim (Baling) and secretary-general Ahmad Maslan (Pontian).
Two Umno MPs have already been convicted - Najib and Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor (Putrajaya). Both are appealing. Najib is still facing two other criminal trials at the High Court and is facing the possibility of being declared bankrupt by the Inland Revenue Board.
These six are collectively referred to as the "court cluster" in political circles.
Should all of them be convicted and lose their seats in Parliament, PN would be left with 106 MPs - effectively losing its majority to govern.
Mahathir was sacked from Bersatu in May last year, two months after the party had split from Pakatan Harapan to form the PN government alongside PAS, Umno and Gabungan Parti Sarawak.
'Najib destroyed Umno'
Mahathir said that when Bersatu went against his wishes and split from Harapan, the party had proposed that he lead a new coalition with Umno and PAS as members.
"Since the beginning, I was the candidate (to be PM for the new government after Harapan). That was how Hamzah Zainudin obtained statutory declarations from (PAS president Abdul) Hadi (Awang), Najib and the others.
"All of them gave their support to me so that when he (Hamzah) leaves, and I also leave (Harapan), I would be the prime minister for the party that I had fought against. But I did not want this.
"So when (Bersatu president) Muhyiddin (Yassin) knew I did not want (to be part of the plan), he volunteered himself. So he became the prime minister," Mahathir said.
When Malaysiakini asked if he would work with PN if certain Umno individuals are no longer part of the coalition and given that PKR and Umno were believed to be in clandestine talks, Mahathir replied in the affirmative.
"Yes, if they are no longer there," he said.
He added that should Umno drift towards PKR, Umno members should join Bersatu.
"There is no need for Umno anymore because Umno's name has been tainted. Najib is the killer of Umno. Najib destroyed Umno.
"His father built Umno and he destroyed it. He has no shame at all for destroying his father's heritage."
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