Why has former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad been criticising the current administration and those connected with it? He revealed the reasons at a talk attended by Kelantan Umno members.

Among matters covered during the 53-minute session in Kota Bharu last Friday were the controversies related to the crooked bridge and car import permits.

Mahathir also accused Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi of practising nepotism and also took two top New Straits Times personnel to task.

These are excerpts of the wide-ranging talk:

On Abdullah's son-in-law, Khairy Jamaluddin

Let's look at what has happened, especially involving, what's his name... Khairy, the son-in-law.

Everyone is talking about the son-in-law, (saying) 'Wow, this is serious. He has power'. It is to the extent that even mentris besar have to ask Khairy for permission to do things.

But why? (Other than holding a post as Umno Youth deputy chief), he has no position in the government. He can call up mentris besar to give instructions. Where do his powers come from? That's what I disagree about.

In a short period of time, he has become a millionaire. Why do we know he is a millionaire? He has declared that he bought shares in ECM-Libra and his shares are valued at RM9 million. Where did the RM9 million come from? Tell us.

Was it borrowed from a bank? People with no money can't borrow (that much money). Only people with money can borrow ... In a short period of time, after that, ECM-Libra indirectly took over a government company called Avenue Assets. This company is even bigger and worth more than ECM-Libra... And who is responsible for this company? The Finance Ministry.

This finance minister is also the prime minister. This is not appropriate.

On Kamaluddin Abdullah, the premier's son

His (Abdullah's) son is quite interesting as well. As far as I know, he got all sorts of contracts. Trains, buses and shipping coal from other countries, although he doesn't own a ship. Companies with ships were denied the contract - that was given to a company without a ship. How did that happen? There is plenty more which I will not talk about.

On New Straits Times deputy chairperson Kalimullah Masheerul Hassan

Kalimullah is really angry with me because I said this (his name) was a 'combination' between a Hindu goddess and a Muslim priest -'mullah' and 'Kali'. Oh... he was angry. No joke. He said his daughter cried (over the matter). But then again he says all sorts of things about me [crowd laughs].

So suddenly, this person is in power. He has powers to give orders to newspapers on what to publish. Not just the New Straits Times ( NST ). He wants to control Utusan Malaysia too. The Sun , the Star ... all of it. And he used such powers to attack me.

Now, there is a word, 'spin doctor', doctor putar . During my time, there were no spin doctors, but there were real doctors. Now, we have 'spin doctors' - how to 'spin' a story. This is the effort of Kalimullah.

On having a non-Malay controlling NST

The Malay officers in NST have all been sacked. Replaced with... Brendan Pereira. Now that's a 'Malay'. There are three or four others, who used to attack Malaysia while working in Singapore, but now controlling NST. ..

I still remember when we took over NST in 1972. Tengku Razaleigh (Hamzah) was tasked with the operations because NST was owned by foreigners. And we elected Malays as editors and others. Now, all the Malays have been sacked and 'New Malays' such as Brendan have been given powers ... He writes stories (seemingly) to smear my name. I never thought that NST, which we bought, would now be used to attack me.

On Umno presidents being forced to step down

Now, I'm being accused of splitting Umno. It seems, in Umno, the president can't be criticised at all. One can criticise others, but never the president. I don't know if this is Umno's tradition ...

Two Umno presidents, at least, have been forced to step down because their ideals were not in tandem (with policies of) Umno ... This shows that the Umno president is not an angel that can't be criticised.

On Pak Lah's advisors

I brought up a successor. I did not bring up his family as my successor. Suddenly, I realised that not only the family has 'become' the prime minister, in time, even the friends have found a place on the fourth floor of the Prime Minister's Department building. They are more powerful than the prime minister. I didn't choose them.

On Pak Lah's 'proxies'

Don't touch! If you want to scold Khairy, it's okay. But don't touch Pak Lah. But it's not that Khairy can say anything at all without Pak Lah's blessings. Nazri is the same [crowd laughs] ... I know Nazri very well. Once you say 'Boo!' and he would run into a hole [Crowd roars with laughter].

On losing old friends

They (unspecified) treat me as an enemy. My friends in the cabinet are no longer willing to meet me. They said that they would be blacklisted if they see me [Crowd gasps].

They are my friends, some of whom spent years with me in cabinet. What's wrong with meeting each other now and then? It's not that we'll be spending the whole time talking about politics. We have other things to discuss. Suddenly, the relationship is broken.

On allegations of being 'anti-Umno'

I love Umno. I want to clean up Umno. I know, we need unity in the party. But unity should be for good purposes ... Because, when one becomes prime minister, it doesn't mean he can do anything he wants. Worst still, if we use prime ministerial powers to enrich our families.

On the cancellation of an event by Umno veterans club Mubarak

I received an invitation from Mubarak. And when I was in Europe, I was told that Mubarak withdrew the invite based on 'instructions'. I realised that a phone call came from Perth instructing Mubarak to cancel the event [Abdullah was at that time holidaying in Perth].

But this is not just limited to Mubarak. Five other events to which I was invited were either cancelled or the invitations were withdrawn ... If I speak at Mubarak's event, the reason would be because I am not allowed to speak to people from Umno. I am an Umno man. I have been accustomed to being Umno president for a long time.

In conclusion

This is the situation now. If you want to become prime minister, you must become prime minister for the rakyat and the country, and not to enrich your family members.