PUTRAJAYA: Barisan Nasional Strategic Communications Director Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan has mocked the Opposition for taking lessons in democracy from a self-confessed former dictator like Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
In a statement, Rahman said it strikes those who know Malaysian history as ironic to hear Dr Mahathir talking about democracy.
He said everyone knows that Dr Mahathir was a dictator, which the former prime minister recently admitted openly.
“Main Opposition leaders such as Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Lim Kit Siang and Lim Guan Eng were all jailed during Dr Mahathir's tenure as Prime Minister.
“Another of his new allies is Dato' Zaid Ibrahim, who has previously stated that Dr Mahathir's rule was ‘authoritarian’ and that under him, democracy in Umno ‘died’ as he destroyed the rule of law and independence of the judiciary in Malaysia.
“Despite this, Zaid is now asking for a return to Dr Mahathir's rule,” Rahman said today.
Fortunately, the independence of the judiciary and rule of law has since been restored under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Rahman added.
He said laws that Dr Mahathir used so extensively to repress opponents, such as the Internal Security Act, were abolished by Najib.
Najib also gave the people the right to protest for the first time under the Peaceful Assembly Act, and Malaysian democracy flourishes in a way that it never did under Dr Mahathir, he said.
“The fact is that Dr Mahathir is bitter because he has failed to remove a democratically-elected Government so that his political failure of a son can become Prime Minister.
“He is angry that when it comes to democratic elections, he and his allies keep failing,” he said.
Rahman added that people are ignoring the sad and increasingly deranged rantings of a bitter old man.