exclusive interview with dr m from malaysiakini

EXTRACT::

* You have made insinuations that Abdullah may not be qualified, that he may
be a little incompetent, that he seems to sleep during meetings. Were you
aware of his capabilities then?

If it is a comparison between him and Najib, I would say that he was less
qualified. But I did not know about this desire (of Abdullah) to bring in
his family in total disregard for the example that I tried to set – that the
family has no role in the government.

(I also did not know he had) this idea that in order to prove yourself you
have to disprove or demonise other people. I didn’t expect that. I expected
that the things we have agreed upon would be carried out. There may be
changes in approaches, or even in policies, but the general policies of the
party has to be carried out. What he has done is to go completely in the
opposite direction. That was not something I expected.

—–

* Did you pressure Pak Lah to appoint Najib?

When I was prime minister, yes, I wrote to him. He said that he could not
decide until he becomes the prime minister. Even after he became prime
minister, I think he was aware that I was pushing for Najib.

—

* What do you think about malaysiakini?

It’s a useful medium. I never entertain hatred for people forever. There are
people who tried to pull me down, I have appointed them into the cabinet and
they have become prime ministers. These are the people who tried to stab me
in the back. You see, I don’t harbour these things forever – (that) when I
quarrel with a person, I will never talk again.

I can make up with Tengku Razaleigh (Hamzah, former finance minister) who
had tried to pull me down. I have appointed Musa (Hitam, former deputy
premier) to various posts. Of course, Rais Yatim (culture and heritage
minister), Abdullah Badawi, all of them were re-admitted into the cabinet
and who were promoted.

So malaysiakini is good when it is good. When it is bad – I will tell you
when you’re bad. I don’t mince my words.

—-

read the full interview at the beritamalaysia group. why not subsribe to beritamalaysia, where you can get all the news you want to read, right in your mailbox.

watch out for part II tomorrow where dr m explain why he why he kept rafidah in his cabinet and why he was unable to sack samy vellu. gonna be interesting! the two longest serving MP! the two whom most of us had been wondering many times why they are still in the cabinet.