Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has ridiculed the police’s explanation over why they pulled the plug on a debate between him and Tourism and Culture Minister Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz.

The Shah Alam district police headquarters in a letter to Kumpulan Media Karangkraf, the debate organiser, had said the approval was being revoked on public order grounds following complaints from nearby residents.

However, Mahathir pointed out that the debate venue, at Karangkraf’s headquarters in Shah Alam, was an industrial area.

“Supposedly there were people there who lodged police report because they feared there would be chaos.

“It’s not as if there are anyone living there. There are only factories.

“But it was cancelled again,” Mahathir told a ceramah in Cheng, Malacca last night.

Mahathir said that the cancellation was ultimately not because of public order but fear of the truth.

Citing the Malay proverb “Berani kerana benar, takut kerana salah”, Mahathir said the powers-that-be know that the government had done wrong.

The debate was previously supposed to take place on March 25 in Kuala Kangsar but was also aborted after Perak police refused to grant approval.

'Nazri budak kecik'

Mahathir said he was “excited” when Nazri first agreed to debate.

“I was excited because I could talk, not about Nazri - Nazri is just a small boy (budak kecik) - but I wanted to talk about Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak,” he said.

However, Mahathir said Nazri became “smaller and smaller” when he tried to downplay the debate, claiming that he was only representing his constituency of Padang Rengas instead of the government.

Yesterday, Kumpulan Media Karangkraf managing director Hussamuddin Yaacub said his organisation was abandoning efforts to organise the debate after two failed attempts.

“As an organisation that respects the government of the day, we decided... actually we’ve lost interest to proceed with the debate, therefore the debate will be cancelled,” he said.

They were to debate on the 1MDB, Bumiputera Finance Malaysia and forex scandals.