KUALA LUMPUR: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's strategy to secure the Malay votes will not go as planned due to his “enormous baggage”, former MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said today.
He said no political party has taken care of the Malay community like Umno has, thus, making it hard for Dr Mahathir’s Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia to generate a Malay tsunami as planned.
Chua said at most, Dr Mahathir will only be able to attract Malay voters in urban constituencies, but not those in the rural areas.
“No other party has taken care of the Malays like Umno.
“Although Dr Mahathir possessed a wealth of knowledge and experience, he also comes with enormous baggage,” he said as quoted by news portal Malaysiakini today.
While acknowledging that Dr Mahathir had contributed a lot for the country throughout his 22-years premiership, Chua said the longest-serving prime minister had also “inflicted a lot of harm” to the nation.
Chua, who was the health minister, also said that cronyism became worse during Dr Mahathir’s time.
“It was during his time that cronyism reared its ugly head…there were direct negotiations and the terms with regard to highways being drafted in a manner favourable to the concessionaires.
“Then, there is the (1988) judiciary (crisis). A lot of people blamed him for this,” said.
This baggage, according to Chua, has now been transferred to Pakatan Harapan after the pact named Dr Mahathir as its prime minister candidate in the event the opposition wins in the coming general election.
Earlier this month, Pakatan Harapan at its convention named Dr Mahathir as its candidate for prime minister while PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail will be his deputy.
It was also announced that as soon as Pakatan Harapan forms the federal government, the pact will initiate legal action to secure a royal pardon for PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Dr Mahathir's nomination was met with criticisms where many questions Pakatan Harapan's decision of making a 92-year-old former prime minister to take over the helm again.
Selangor PKR communications bureau chief Hizwan Ahmad in a statement recently said PKR Selangor refused to endorse Pakatan Harapan's choice of prime minister and deputy prime minister, adding that the top post should be held by a leader from PKR itself.
PKR women chief Zuraida Kamarudin too had refused to endorse the decision and proposed for Selangor MB Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali to be nominated for the post instead.