PETALING JAYA: Dr Mahathir Mohamad was questioned by police earlier this evening over the “Malay Proclamation” initiative, the former prime minister’s lawyer, Rafique Rashid Ali, said.
Rafique said Mahathir was quizzed over his participation in a press conference on a roundtable discussion related to the initiative.
He was questioned by personnel from Bukit Aman’s classified investigation unit for 30 minutes at his office at the Yayasan Albukhary building.
Apart from Mahathir, former deputy foreign minister Marzuki Yahaya and Malay Proclamation secretariat chairman Khairuddin Abu Hassan also had their statements taken by the police.
Rafique said all three gave police their full cooperation.
“Tun has said that he will answer whatever questions (raised) in the court,” said Rafique in a video clip, referring to Mahathir.
“Tun has also said in his statement to the police that any statements made, whether written or spoken, were made based on his 22 years and 22 months of experience as the prime minister.”
This is the second time Mahathir has been questioned by police over the initiative. The former Langkawi MP was first called in by the authorities on June 2.
Rafique said questioning Mahathir was yet another way the government was attempting to stifle freedom of expression.
“Tun (Mahathir) has said repeatedly that the government should release full, accurate guidelines related to the 3R (race, religion and royalty),” he said.
The Malay Proclamation is the former prime minister’s initiative to “unite the community”. It lists 12 key problems that it claims are being faced by the Malays, and also seeks to unite the community across the political divide.
Earlier today, in a Facebook post, Mahathir said that the government had no right to ban anything, including prohibiting people from touching on 3R issues, unless it would affect national security.
“How are these issues detrimental to the nation?” he asked.
FMT has reached out to police secretary Noorsiah Saaduddin for comments.
