KUALA LUMPUR: Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) Jasin parliamentary coordinator Datuk Seri Khairuddin Abu Hassan has hit out at several Kapar PKR members for lodging a police report against Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Labelling them as “mentally deranged”, Khairuddin believed that the report was lodged as an attempt to pressure Dr Mahathir into stepping down and make way for PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to take over immediately.
“In their minds, they just want to find fault with the Prime Minister and to pressure Dr Mahathir to step down immediately so that the position can be handed over to Anwar.
“I want to advise them against daydreaming.
“Don’t expect Anwar to become the prime minister quickly because I’m worried that this group of people will be disappointed forever to the point they will become crazy,” he said in a statement today.
Yesterday, Kapar PKR Member V Maneyvannan lodged a police report at the Sungai Kapar police station along with three other party members.
In the report sighted by the New Straits Times, Maneyvannan said Dr Mahathir had “insulted and hurt the feelings of the Indian community” when the latter used the word “pariah” in commenting on Lynas Corporation.
The Kapar PKR members also demanded Dr Mahathir to publicly apologise to all Malaysians while urging the Inspector-General of Police and the Home Ministry to take appropriate action immediately.
On Monday, Dr Mahathir said that Lynas Corporation could not be asked to leave the country “like a pariah” as this would jeopardise future investments in Malaysia.
He also said that if this was the case, Malaysia would find it difficult to get investors to enter the country in the future.
According to the Cambridge dictionary, a pariah means a person who is not accepted by a social group, especially because he or she is not liked, respected or trusted. The dictionary, however, made no mention of the Indian community.
Thus, Khairuddin said, the Kapar PKR members were being unreasonably emotional and failed to understand the meaning of the word.
“Don’t they understand the meaning? And now the whole country is laughing at them for their stupidity.
“They are just trying to look for Dr Mahathir’s mistake because they are being led by a useless Member of Parliament.
“I would suggest they look at bigger issues if they want to find Dr Mahathir’s fault instead of exaggerating on small issues like this,” he said.
The NST is attempting to contact Kapar MP Datuk Abdullah Sani for his comments and if he supported the police report. He has yet to reply to the WhatsApp message sent to him.
Abdullah is a known staunch supporter of Anwar. Last year, he made a claim that there was a conspiracy to prevent Anwar from becoming the eighth prime minister and that the movement was spearheaded by the Council of Eminent Persons chairman Tun Daim Zainuddin.
Dr Mahathir, however, denied the allegation while PKR secretary-general Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the transition of power would be carried out as previously agreed by the Pakatan Harapan Presidential Council where they agreed that Anwar would succeed Dr Mahathir in two to three years' time.