Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak turned the clock back to 1987 when scores of people were detained without trial under the Internal Security Act (ISA) during Dr Mahathir Mohamad's tenure in an operation codenamed Ops Lalang.
Najib revisited this episode when addressing some 5,000 civil servants in Perak today, in response to the opposition calling him cruel.
“Since when have I been cruel? Who arrested people under Operasi Lalang? Najib or that 93-year-old man?” he asked in reference to Mahathir, whom he has a habit of not naming in his salvos.
“The MB (Perak Menteri Besar Zambry Abd Kadir) himself (who was detained under the ISA in 1998) told me how much he suffered under ISA, didn't know between day and night. Until today, he does not know why he was arrested under ISA. Hundreds were arrested.
“But as usual, it was not his (Mahathir's) fault but the police's fault. The Memali (tragedy) too was the fault of (former deputy prime minister) Musa (Hitam), the arrest of Anwar (Ibrahim) was also the police's fault. Everything is not his fault, it is the fault of others.
“This is the (political) scenario in Malaysia,” Najib was quoted as saying by Berita Harian.
Najib abolished the ISA in 2011, much to the chagrin of Mahathir, who was accused of using the draconian law to stifle dissent and imprison opposition politicians.
In his speech, Najib said the future of the nation should not be placed in the hands of a nonagenarian.
He claimed that logic and common sense would dictate that nowhere in the world would a 93-year-old person be picked as the head of government.
“Is there (a country which has done so)? No. Do we want to be the first country in the world (to elect a 93-year-old as prime minister)? We have a choice.
“We have to think of Malaysia's future. Malaysia's future is not in the hands of a 93-year-old man but in the hands of the existing government, insyaAllah (God willing),” he added.
The prime minister also claimed that those behind Mahathir were politicians who had insulted civil servants in the past and therefore the civil servants should not vote for them.
