Kuala Lumpur: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said he will provide proof that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had enriched himself and his family when he led the government.
During a dialogue with students at Universiti Teknologi Mara in Shah Alam, Selangor, the incumbent Pakatan Harapan chairman said Dr Mahathir had done some good and a lot of damage to Malaysia when the latter was Prime Minister.
“I will answer. If he asks for proof, I will give proof. No problem,” Anwar replied to a student who asked for his response to Dr Mahathir’s legal threat over the enrichment claims.
The latest feud between the two leaders started on March 18 when Anwar said that a person who had led the country for 22 years and 22 months had enriched himself and his family, and that during that time Malay power had eroded.
Dr Mahathir later said that Anwar must have been talking about him, since there was no one else who had been Prime Minister for the same amount of time.
The 97-year-old was Prime Minister twice; first from 1981 to 2003; and the second from 2018 to February 2020.
Dr Mahathir then sent a letter of demand to Anwar and gave the latter until April 17 to retract or prove his enrichment claim or face a lawsuit.
Anwar said Dr Mahathir painted a very negative image of Malays that was based on a colonial mindset.
“He says the Malays are lazy, don’t know how to appreciate, easily forget. Is it true that Malay culture is like that?
“Which race doesn’t have people who are lazy... all races have easily forgotten things,” he said.
Anwar said that the Malay race had birthed great thinkers and leaders throughout history.
“How can the Malays in Melaka be called lazy, when it was a famed global trading hub and cosmopolitan centre.
“The problem instead lies with the thinking of leaders,” he added.
Anwar said the rights of the Malays and Bumiputera in Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) would be protected at all times.
He said he has stood by the fundamentals of the varsity’s establishment even since the days he was a student council leader.
“Many have said that when I became Prime Minister, UiTM will be closed. This is all pure slander. There would always be two to three idiots who would believe such things.
“Those who know my history will be aware that I was a student council leader. We were among those who had fought the hardest for the establishment of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
“We had also demanded for ITM (Institut Teknologi Mara) to be upgraded to become the present Universiti Teknologi Mara (UITM). We were consistent and never argued about Malay and Bumiputera rights for UiTM,” Anwar said.
Anwar added that the government would never abandon the rights of Malays and Bumiputera rights for UiTM because it was vital and reflected the people’s needs.
