I’m not bothered about my legacy, says Dr M

PETALING JAYA: Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad is not bothered about the kind of legacy he will eventually leave, saying people will probably still criticise him when he is gone.

Speaking to BFM Radio during its Breakfast Grille programme, Mahathir acknowledged that corruption was present during his first tenure as prime minister, but maintained that it was not as rampant.

“Yes, there was corruption, but not to the point where the prime minister is corrupt.”

Asked if he stole money, he replied: “I didn’t steal one sen. In fact, I gave back my money. When I became the prime minister, I insisted that the Cabinet’s salary be cut by 10%.

“I don’t care about my legacy. I’m quite sure when I’m dead and gone people will run me down and all that. It’s not important, I’ll be dead anyway,” he said.

On supporting Anwar Ibrahim in his bid to become prime minister, Mahathir said he was not against the PKR president but maintained that Anwar must be able to get the majority support in Parliament to helm the top post.

“At this moment, only Parliament can decide. Even if the King appoints a prime minister, it goes through Parliament and if Parliament rejects him, he won’t be prime minister.

“(This is) because you can’t form a government without a majority. Every time you want to pass a law, it will be rejected by the majority. There can’t be a minority government,” he said.

The Langkawi MP said it was highly likely that neither Perikatan Nasional nor Pakatan Harapan would be able to acquire a majority in the next general election, which is where his faction of MPs comes in.

“Major parties will have to work with us to form a government. And I won’t work with people who have been charged in court for crimes, whether they have been found guilty or not.”

He also trained his guns on Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, saying he was not doing much in terms of running the country as the economy and people were suffering.

Describing Muhyiddin as a “dictator”, Mahathir said the emergency gave the prime minister tremendous power when he had failed to show his capability in addressing Malaysia’s problems.