Mahathir Mohamad is neither angry nor sad over the “slipper” insult hurled at him by an MIC member.
The former prime minister said today he did not feel anything by it and added: “Nothing would have happened to me.”
Instead, he said when interviewed by BERNAMA here, he would have felt angry and saddened if such an insult had been made by Umno members.
“This is not the first time I have been insulted. People might have forgotten how Umno leaders had insulted me. Nazri (Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz) and the previous menteri besar of Kedah wanted me expelled from Umno.
“However, then no one gave any reaction. No one dared to say anything,” he said.
On Sunday, during the MIC’s annual-general assembly that was held at the Putra World Trade Centre here, the deputy chief of MIC’s Paya Besar division in Pahang, M. Sukumaran had made a suggestion that “a garland of slippers” be hung around a potrait of Dr Mahathir at Umno’s headquarters there to show MIC’s dissatisfaction over alleged interference by the former prime minister in MIC’s affairs.
However, this time the action drew flak from all around, from political leaders, non-governmental organisations and the general public.
“Suddenly I have become popular. Everyone is defending me. As I said... previously when I was insulted, asked to be expelled from Umno no one showed any reaction. Why the reaction now?,” he asked.
“Then, no one defended me. At least not openly. Some did on the quiet but the big names dared not,” he said, adding that he was saddened that people from his own party and who sat with him in his cabinet had resorted to such action.
It was insults from Umno people that hurt him, he said, and this one from the MIC member was just like “pouring water on a duck’s back”, he said.
“I have been with Umno since its formation (except for short spells when he was expelled and when he resigned as a member) ... the people who have talked bad about me weren’t even born yet,” he said.
Mahathir added that if he were back in power now, he would drop these people from the Cabinet.
On Sukumaran’s wish to apologise to him, Dr Mahathir said: “Apologise also okay, don’t want to apologise, also doesn’t matter. It’s only when my own people hurl insults at me that I feel slighted.”
He said Sukumaran now had become a victim of his own action. On Tuesday, MIC president Datuk Seri Samy Vellu announced that Sukumaran had been suspended pending a full inquiry on the outburst.
18/09/09
The former prime minister said today he did not feel anything by it and added: “Nothing would have happened to me.”
Instead, he said when interviewed by BERNAMA here, he would have felt angry and saddened if such an insult had been made by Umno members.
“This is not the first time I have been insulted. People might have forgotten how Umno leaders had insulted me. Nazri (Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz) and the previous menteri besar of Kedah wanted me expelled from Umno.
“However, then no one gave any reaction. No one dared to say anything,” he said.
On Sunday, during the MIC’s annual-general assembly that was held at the Putra World Trade Centre here, the deputy chief of MIC’s Paya Besar division in Pahang, M. Sukumaran had made a suggestion that “a garland of slippers” be hung around a potrait of Dr Mahathir at Umno’s headquarters there to show MIC’s dissatisfaction over alleged interference by the former prime minister in MIC’s affairs.
However, this time the action drew flak from all around, from political leaders, non-governmental organisations and the general public.
“Suddenly I have become popular. Everyone is defending me. As I said... previously when I was insulted, asked to be expelled from Umno no one showed any reaction. Why the reaction now?,” he asked.
“Then, no one defended me. At least not openly. Some did on the quiet but the big names dared not,” he said, adding that he was saddened that people from his own party and who sat with him in his cabinet had resorted to such action.
It was insults from Umno people that hurt him, he said, and this one from the MIC member was just like “pouring water on a duck’s back”, he said.
“I have been with Umno since its formation (except for short spells when he was expelled and when he resigned as a member) ... the people who have talked bad about me weren’t even born yet,” he said.
Mahathir added that if he were back in power now, he would drop these people from the Cabinet.
On Sukumaran’s wish to apologise to him, Dr Mahathir said: “Apologise also okay, don’t want to apologise, also doesn’t matter. It’s only when my own people hurl insults at me that I feel slighted.”
He said Sukumaran now had become a victim of his own action. On Tuesday, MIC president Datuk Seri Samy Vellu announced that Sukumaran had been suspended pending a full inquiry on the outburst.
18/09/09
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