KUALA LUMPUR : Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad
has dramatically escalated the feud with his successor Abdullah
Ahmad Badawi by accusing the prime minister and his party of
bribery to silence him.
Dr Mahathir failed in his bid to address the UMNO General Assembly
although Mr Abdullah says he will still be invited to attend.
He has accused Mr Abdullah of bribing members of the ruling party
to vote against him in an election to block his bid to address the
UMNO General Assembly.
Dr Mahathir said: "I accept I have lost because they used bribery
in order to win the elections."
The fiery 81-year-old political maverick could not offer any hard
evidence, apart from a list of seven candidates which he claimed
envelopes containing US$50 in cash were distributed to them.
Dr Mahathir suffered a humiliating defeat in the grassroots ballot,
returning ninth among 15 candidates vying for seven positions as
delegates to the November assembly.
Addressing his supporters, Dr Mahathir has vowed to keep up his
attacks against the prime minister and his administration.
Dr Mahathir said: "I will continue to talk to the people - the only
way they are going to stop me is to throw me in jail."
He has repeatedly accused Mr Abdullah of corruption, mismanagement
and nepotism by allowing his son-in-law, Khairy Jamaluddin, to
influence government policies.
Dr Mahathir said: "They will try to stay in power but one day the
truth will prevail, they will pay a price for converting the
Malaysian government into the family government of Abdullah
Badawi."
While it is clear that Dr Mahathir now wants Mr Abdullah out of the
government, the decision ultimately lies with the ruling party UMNO
and the people who have voted him into power with the biggest
mandate ever in history three years ago. - CNA/de
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/southeastasia/view/229803/1/.html
obvious bribery among the malaysian
government...nothing anyone else can do about it?
