JOHOR BARU: The opposition and their supporters displayed “sheer hypocrisy” in their outbursts against Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim over his statement advising Malaysians to exercise caution when dealing with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
National Public Complaints and Welfare Service Centre (PAR) president Datuk A. Chandrakumanan said he was bemused and astounded by such hypocrisy.
“In 2016, Dr Mahathir initiated a petition to collect a million signatures to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak for his alleged involvement in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) ‘scandal’.
“Dr Mahathir had hoped that by getting the signatures, he would be able to persuade the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to take action against the prime minister. When he failed to convince the King to remove Najib, he sent out a letter to the Council of Rulers in the hopes of appealing to them on behalf of citizens for the prime minister’s removal,” he said.
He said the events were a clear indication of how desperate Dr Mahathir and the opposition were in trying to get the Rulers involved in their attempts to topple the prime minister.
“However, today, when a member of (one of) the royal families spoke on the matter of politics, the opposition are quick to rebuke and blatantly question the views of the prince.”
Chandrakumaran said the reason for the opposition’s sudden displeasure with the Tunku Mahkota of Johor was because of the fact that Tunku Ismail had irked them by stating an opinion which does not criticise Umno but, on the contrary, exposes the flaws of the opposition’s current prime ministerial candidate.
“How can the opposition do any wrong, right?”
Chandrakumanan said, when Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz and the TMJ were involved in a public spat last year, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia youth chief Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman had written an open letter to Tunku Ismail expressing his support for the crown prince and displeasure at Umno for squabbling with royalty.
“Today, those who hailed TMJ with ‘Daulat Tuanku’ (then) are questioning his views and his ability to judge the pulse of an ordinary rakyat. These people have conveniently forgotten that TMJ restored the passion for local football via JDT only because Johoreans wanted a ‘super football club’.
“Only because the views of TMJ differs to their political stand today, the opposition have forgotten to show the respect or courtesy that is required as per the normal practice in Malaysia,” he said.
He said it was the nature of Dr Mahathir and his supporters to instigate hatred for those whose views are not in line with that of theirs.
“Those traits can be seen in the recent issue where he refused to apologise after referring to the Indian community with a derogatory term.
“According to him, it was a norm for him to address his Indian friends as such and therefore, it should also be okay with the rest of us. This shows the arrogance of not only him but his supporters as well.
“Isn’t this typical of the opposition? To antagonise everyone that has a different view to them and rather hypocritically cry democracy when everything they do is anything but democratic in nature?”
(After much pressure from various quarters, including National Human Rights Society (Hakam) chairman Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan, Dr Mahathir has since apologised for using the derogatory term for Indians, but maintained that he uses it as a norm as that was how it was when he was young.)
Chandrakumanan said it was clear that the “my way or the highway” principles of Dr Mahathir has been indoctrinated into the minds of the opposition and their supporters.