KUALA LUMPUR: Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Dr Salleh Said Keruak said yesterday that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak cannot be compared to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, as the latter “carries with him a lot of baggage”.
Salleh noted that Tun Mahathir was prime minister at a time when several dictatorial regimes surrounding Malaysia were ousted.
And Tun Mahathir was compared, apple-to-apple, with the ousted dictators, Salleh said in his blog sskeruak.blogspot.my.
He went on to say that the western media then had accused Tun Mahathir of wasting billions of ringgit of the nation's money, including through losses labelled as 'leakages'.
"This was published in a book, and is another Mahathir legacy which Najib should not be compared with," Salleh said.
The minister further said that in 2013, Tun Mahathir accused Najib of neglecting the Malays and pandering to the Chinese, whereas it was the Malays who supported Umno.
"For sure, Najib cannot be compared to Dr Mahathir," he said. -- Bernama