Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak said today even if he steps down as prime minister, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad will continue meddling in government affairs under the new leadership.
"Even if I step down, Tun will continue to intervene in the country’s administration.
"He can say he is simply exercising his democratic rights as a citizen, but this is Tun Mahathir," said Najib in his third Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section posted on his blog last night.
Najib has before this stressed that he would complete his term as prime minister despite calls to him to step down from Mahathir.
This, Najib said, was because he has been duly elected by the people.
However, Mahathir has insisted that Najib resigns, pointing out that his predecessor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi ( photo ) had also stepped down, even though he was more popular than Najib in the general election of 2009.
Najib in his latest blog posting insisted that calls for him to resign from Mahathir were only his personal opinion.
"It is unfortunate the Tun chooses to ignore all that this government has achieved under the various transformation programmes and the economic growth trajectory that, God willing, will help us become a high income nation by 2020," Najib said.
He also pointed out that other retired heads of government did not interfere in government affairs, like Mahathir did.
"There are reasons why most former heads of state, across the world, do not intervene in the work of current administrations, because whatever they say can easily affect the system.
"Tun did many noble and great things as prime minister but he is no longer running the administration," Najib said.
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