KUALA LUMPUR: Gerakan Akar Umbi Umno Malaysia (GAUM) today lodged a police report against Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad who claimed that a chartered private jet he had boarded was sabotaged.
GAUM chairman Datuk Zulkarnain Mahdar said the report was lodged at the Sri Petaling police station to urge police and the Attorney-General’s Chamber to investigate Dr Mahathir’s claim.
He said the former prime minister had caused anxiety and uncertainty among the people, and created a wrong perception of Barisan Nasional (BN).
“The accusation made by Dr Mahathir is baseless. The truth is the plane was having technical problems,” said Zulkarnain.
“The Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) said there was no evidence of sabotage.
“Dr Mahathir had ill intentions and was lying to Malaysians to gain attention for political reasons. “After he made the (Mahathir) accusation, a handful of opposition supporters also accused BN of using dirty tactics in the 14th General Election.”
Zulkarnain said Dr Mahathir was a “propaganda specialist” and that the accusation was intended to get the people to reject BN and support the opposition pact.
He said it showed that Dr Mahathir was desperate to win GE14.
“GAUM came forward today to clear BN’s name. Although Dr Mahathir did not mention who he suspected of carrying out the sabotage, he referred to them as the ‘enemy’. It is obvious who this enemy is,” said Zulkarnain.
“Another strange thing is he did not make a police report. He said police cannot take any action. This is baseless.
“He said he is a national hero, but a hero should not tell lies and act this way.”
Last week, Dr Mahathir claimed that the private jet, which was supposed to fly him from Subang to Langkawi, had been sabotaged, and that the pilot had detected it just before take-off.
The claim was rejected by CAAM chairman Datuk Seri Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, who said the plane was unable to fly due to air leakage from the left hand nose wheel, which was a minor and routine technical fault.
CAAM’s statement was backed by the private jet charter, Vista Jet, which confirmed that one of the company’s aircraft had faced a technical issue in its normal course of operations before departure, which at no point jeopardised safety.