ALOR STAR: Kedah Umno Youth today took a swipe at Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad for making 'seditious' remarks and for offering nothing new for the people in his policy speech at Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia's (PPBM) annual general meeting today.
Its chief Datuk Shaiful Hazizy Zainol Abidin said the PPBM chairman continuously twisted facts with the intention of misleading the people with baseless and half-truth claims against the Barisan Nasional (BN) government.
Shaiful claimed that Dr Mahathir's policy speech reflected PPBM's lack of clear direction, besides being formed simply to exact personal revenge and practice politics of hate.
He believed the open apology by Dr Mahathir was merely a cheap political stunt.
"His open apology is just an attempt to legalise or to redeem his dictatorship or draconian style of leadership when he was in power.
"The truth is, all the promises he is making now concerning freedom of speech, the separation of power between the executive and judiciary, hail from his sins when he was in power.
"PPBM is clearly using this as its political tool. We urge the people not to be misled by Dr Mahathir's cheap tears," he said in a statement today.
From an economic perspective, he said Kedah Umno Youth is unconvinced by the political solution offered by the former prime minister.
He said it was an open-secret that the current BN Federal government is carrying the burden of debts and liabilities from the previous economy of cronyism.
"Dr Mahathir should stop pretending to be the 'economic hero' by throwing out populist suggestions which are impossible to be implemented.
"His fantasy of reducing the number of foreign workers from 7 million people to just 2 million to create more job opportunities for locals are vague and unrealistic."
The wing also questioned PPBM's move to nominate Dr Mahathir as the interim prime minister should Pakatan Harapan win the 14th General Election (GE14), based on the latter's experience.
"This is the biggest joke in history, where the youngest party in the opposition pact, which only exists in 137 parliamentary constituencies, is demanding such a huge recognition.
"Kedah Umno Youth wishes to advise PPBM deputy president Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir against coming in with this proposal, which will backfire on his own party," he said.
On rumours that Dr Mahathir could contest either the Langkawi or Kubang Pasu parliamentary seats in Kedah, Shaiful said the wing welcomed the move.
He said the wing is ready to face anyone and confident that the people are wise enough to tell the difference between twisted nostalgia and a proven government which is capable of securing a better future for the nation.
"We believe this a desperate move by PPBM to become relevant, to the extent of gambling on the ability of a 92-year-old to serve the people as an elected representative."