KUCHING, Nov 10: Movement for Change Sarawak (MoCS) president Francis Siah reminds Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad that Malaysians in general want him to step down after an interim period of two years as agreed.
In response to Dr Mahathir’s recent interview with the Financial Times, Siah opined it was unfortunate that Mahathir is choosing to ignore the people’s wish for him not to overstay and to stop playing political games at this tail-end of his long political career.
In a statement, Siah quoted Mahathir as saying “Maybe, I am still the only person able to run Malaysia”, “I will not be stepping down next year (2020)”, “I will hand over the mantle to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim” and “I am worried of making mistake again in choosing my successor” as described in the Financial Times report.
“MoCS wishes to tell Mahathir that there is no need for him to repeat handing the reins over to Anwar. That is not his call. It belongs to the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition and Malaysians who voted for PH in GE14. The choice of Malaysians must be respected and we don’t need Mahathir to tell us again and again who will succeed him,” Siah asserted.
He also assured Mahathir that no one will blame the latter if Anwar falters as a prime minister and that the people will accept the responsibility for their mistake.
“If Mahathir is genuinely worried about making mistakes, then he should seriously relook at his blunders of the past 16 months. Not being able to see the clear writing on the wall before him today is another mistake.”
Concerning the statement that he, Dr Mahathir, is the only person capable of managing the country, Siah urged the former to snap out of self-aggrandisement as he is still as powerful, or as important or respected, as he was 16 years ago. — DayakDaily
