Dr Mahathir's Blog & Speeches - Defending The Indefensible; Beginning To Grate On Our Nerves

Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad claims that former judges removed during the 1988 judicial crisis were “bribed” into making allegations against him.

It was evident, he said, that the former judges who received ex-gratia payments from the Government had been made to say negative things about him.

“It’s been five years since I stepped down (as prime minister) and they had all these years to come out without fear to say I am bad. But why is it that only now, after having gotten money, are they saying so?'' he questioned when speaking to over 1,000 supporters here yesterday.

“Give all the judges some money so they all say the same thing,” he added.

Dr Mahathir, who regarded the billions given to Sabah and Sarawak as bribes in exchange for support, said a government which practised such corruption could not expect its people and followers to be different.

“When people oppose, make them senator or minister, give them money, give them a Tan Sri title but is this the Government that we want, is this what we call democracy? We can give money to Sabah and Sarawak but that doesn’t mean we will get their support,” he said.

During his one-hour speech, Dr Mahathir also suggested the setting up of an advisory panel to the prime minister.

“When power is given to only one person, there is a tendency to misuse that power and it becomes hard to separate the person from that power,” he said.

The same, he noted, should also be applied to the post of Umno president. (The Star)

***** Displaying signs of paranoia or senile decay or both, Dr Mahathir seriously voiced his concern yesterday that former judges had been 'bribed to throw dirt' at him! Dr M was of course referring to the comments made by retired Federal Court judge Tan Sri Azmi Kamaruddin who alleged that the former PM had wanted to amend Article 121 of the Federal Constitution because he wanted the judiciary to be under his control.

As a consequence of his convoluted thought process and a mind which is impervious to hearing the harsh truth about his misrule, Dr Mahathir cannot or will not perceive that it was his pernicious impatience in complying with the rule of law as well as his politically calculated wrongdoings which turned the lives of these honest judges into living hell.

To their credit these senior judges kept their opinion and counsel to themselves until now, when the government itself has accepted the gross injustice done to them. The ex-gratia payment is a poor substitute to the way their lives had been traumatised by Dr Mahathir's devious strategies and unbridled ambition. If some of them don't speak up now, then when can they get to tell their side of the story? - The horror story of one man's total domination of a country for 22 years during which he successfully either destroyed, dismantled or substantially weakened every single institution of the state. But now that some of them have directly pointed to Dr M as the culprit-in-chief, his only defense is that they have been bribed! Only a graft-ridden mind can so clearly smell bribery where there is none.

It is rich that Dr Mahathir should refer to Pak Lah by saying “when power is given to only one person, there is a tendency to misuse that power and it becomes hard to separate the person from that power.” That very statement totally embodies Dr M's tyrannical rule of the nation and it grates on our nerves to listen to this kind of argument from him ad nauseam, for there is this arrogant assumption that we are a bunch of suckers who'll believe all the misinformation which he feeds through his blog and speeches.