Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad says he has forbidden his chidren to take up positions in Umno unless they are appointed by others not related to them. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, January 16, 2015.
Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said he is not bothered if his writings or statements offend or upset anybody.
"I am not saying anything in particular about Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak. This is just a general statement," he wrote in a posting on his chedet.cc blog, referring to a previous posting in which he had cautioned Umno against political dynasties.
Najib’s father Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, was a former Umno president and the nation's second prime minister.
"If anyone feels offended, that is their problem," Dr Mahathir wrote, adding his opinion was that family ties could not be the basis for acceptance or rejection.
"I have forbidden my children from pursuing membership or positions in Umno unless they were appointed by leaders who did not have family ties to them."
Dr Mahathir said he had been chosen by Tun Hussein Onn to become the deputy prime minister, not by his own family.
“Those who chose me as the Umno deputy president were the delegates who attended the party's general assembly.
“Of course there would be many dissatisfied and angry members but there was nobody else for them to vote for.”
Dr Mahathir said the same had happened when he was party president: he was challenged but still won despite garnering only 43 votes.
"I was merely giving a reminder in my blog posting that family ties could not be the basis for selection or rejection," he said.
On Wednesday, Umno supreme council member Datuk Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi responded to Dr Mahathir's earlier blog posting, saying that there was no “political dynasty or favouritism” in Umno.
“If he is referring to Najib (about a political dynasty in Umno), then Dr Mahathir is wrong because Najib only entered politics after his father passed away.”
Puad also said there was no political dynasty or favouritism in Umno as Najib, the party president, had amended the party constitution, which included enlarging the voting base from 2,400 delegates to 146,000.
In his blog posting today, Dr Mahathir said he was interested in Puad's assertion that it was not possible for a culture of political dynasties to occur in Umno.
He noted that Puad's argument centred on the fact that the voting base had been enlarged due to amendments in the party constitution.
"But the divisions are not equally divided. There are some divisions which are 10 times larger compared to others," Dr Mahathir wrote.
"What counts is not the number of voters who support a particular candidate but the divisions which nominate and appoint."
Dr Mahathir said the actual number of divisions was actually less than the number of delegates who attended the general assembly.
"Actually, the voters have not been increased but decreased," he said.
He said there were divisions which were previously not so influential but which were now more powerful than the delegates.
- TMI
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