Anwar: Dr M fears my rise to power the most

Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim yesterday named his former boss Dr Mahathir Mohamed as the one person who fears his rise to power  the most.

"There is one man who is afraid of me becoming the prime minister the most - Mahathir.

"If someone were to whisper, ‘Hey Mahathir, Anwar might become the prime minister,' he would jump up straight away and say, ‘No way!'" he said in a speech at a fundraising dinner in Rawang, Selangor last night.

The crowd of about 1,000 supporters broke into laughter and cheers in response before Anwar (right) moved on to the question the fuel deal between national airline Malaysian Airline System Bhd (MAS) and Petron Malaysia Sdn Bhd (formerly known as Esso Malaysia Bhd).

Bernama had reported on July 2 that MAS and Petron had signed a deal on June 29 to supply fuel for the airline's Airbus A380 fleet at a ‘mutually favourable rate' for six months starting this month.

Anwar claimed that the deal allows Petron, where one of Mahathir's sons is a director, to be MAS' exclusive fuel supplier for six months.

When met by reporters as he was leaving to attend another ceramah in Rawang, he was asked about Mahathir's statement that Anwar should retire now instead of waiting to lose in the next general election.

Raking in the dough

"He has enough companies to manage; he should just concentrate on that. Let him just manage the company.

"He and his children are making billions of dollars and that is why he is damn scared of change," the former deputy minister replied.

Earlier in his speech, the Permatang Pauh MP also reiterated his plans to retire from politics and resume teaching should Pakatan Rakyat fall in the coming polls.

Nonetheless, he said he remains confident that the coalition would secure a victory.

The former Georgetown University lecturer's retirement plans were first reported by Britain's Financial Times on Tuesday, prompting Mahathir's comment that Anwar should retire straightaway because he can't win the election.
Besides Anwar's 30-minute speech, others who took the stage included Selangor state exco member Elizabeth Wong, Kepong MP Tan Seng Giaw, and Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh.

Stones that started landslide

Fuziah (left) explained that the alleged irregularities in the electoral process that had become the casus belli (event or action that allegedly justifies a conflict) of the Bersih movement, such as voters being moved between constituencies without their knowledge, deceased voters ‘brought back to life' under new ICs, and addresses containing implausibly large numbers of voters.

"In a Sarawakian longhouse maybe, but it is impossible to have fifty voters registered in a condo in Bangsar. If it were 50 cows, then that's possible, right or not?" she jibed.

Also speaking that night was the host, Rawang assemblyperson Gan Pein Nei.

In her welcoming speech, she said it is not easy to change corruption and racial politics in Malaysia, but, pointing to democratisation of countries like Egypt and Myanmar, she said change is not a dream and urged supporters to vote for that.