Former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad today alluded that a scuffle at PWTC was created in order to give Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak an excuse not to turn up at a 'Nothing2Hide' dialogue on 1MDB last Friday.
He said this in response to the Prime Minister's Office’s justification that Najib could not turn up at the last minute due to the police's discovery of a security threat at PWTC, Kula Lumpur.
"I watched a video clip of what happened. There was no threat to security except for Ali Tinju making a lot of noise.
"It is obvious he wanted the meeting to be cancelled. We know who he is in favour of," Mahathir said in a blog posting today.
Mahathir was referring to Malay Armed Forces Veterans Association president Mohd Ali Baharom who is better known as Ali Tinju.
Mohd Ali was on that day spotted quarrelling with another man outside the event's venue, which was attended by over 1,500 people.
The event's organiser later used the scuffle as a reason for cancelling the event. Police have confirmed that Mohd Ali was arrested on that day.
Mohd Ali is best known for the ' posterior exercise ' protest in front of former Bar Council president Ambiga Sreenevasan's home in 2012.
The former prime minister, who was present as a guest at the function titled: "Nothing2Hide: PM's dialogue with NGOs", took over the stage to deliver a scathing speech against Najib in the prime minister's absence.
The crowd, which was agitated after waiting for two hours for Najib to no avail, cheered on Mahathir.
The public relations disaster was further aggravated when police stopped Mahathir from speaking 10 minutes into the speech, a scene captured by the media and has since gone viral.
Mahathir also mocked Najib, stating that the prime minister had nothing to fear from a harmless man such as himself.
Najib later said he was prepared to attend dialogues but the situation had to be "suitable".
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