Malaysian Post - PETALING JAYA: Veteran Umno leader Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah has hit out at former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad over the latter’s recollection of events as stated in his memoirs which was published earlier this week.
The long-time Gua Musang MP and once an Umno vice-president, Tengku Razaleigh, also fondly known as Ku Li, said Mahathir was wrong in accusing him of breaking up Umno in 1987 during the party leadership crisis.
“Again I am accused of bringing the party to court. I am also alleged to be involved in money politics during the 1987 party contest.
“I do not have that sort of money. I have no cronies.
“In fact, I am against money politics. As Allah is my witness, I have not done all those things. Yet I have always been returned every time I stood in Gua Musang,” Razaleigh said yesterday.
“I never steal, I never cheat. Those who steal and cheat will have their conscience pricking them all the time, the rest of their life,” he added.
He said Mahathir’s memoirs – titled “’Doctor In The House” – lacked intellectual honesty and reflected some comedianship, apart from political lying.
He added that intellectual honesty was a rare commodity these days, “particularly in the political atmosphere that we face today in Malaysia where political lying has become pervasive”.
Razaleigh said that he had no remedies “in this country to challenge the fabrication and political lying”.
“That I do not have a legal remedy speaks volumes of the political reality which is disguised as democracy,” he added.
Mahathir’s version
Razaleigh was commenting on Mahathir’s memoirs through his speech during a book launch in Ipoh yesterday. He was officiating at the launch of Perak Academy’s “Wang Gungwu: Junzi Scholar-Gentleman”.
In his 843-page memoirs, Mahathir recalled events that led to Umno being deregistered by the High Court for allowing unregistered branches to take part in the party polls in 1987.
The court ruling was a result of a suit filed by supporters of Razaleigh who had failed to unseat Mahathir as the party president. Mahathir defeated Razaleigh by a razor-slim 43-vote majority.
Mahathir also stated that Razaleigh’s team had spend money in its attempt to win the party polls.
“To fund Team B (Tengku Razaleigh’s team), I was told Tengku Razeleigh sold his racecourse property to the Sultan of Brunei for RM14 million,” wrote Mahathir in his autobiography.
“We also heard that Team B spent about RM20 million on their campaign, with most of the money provided by Tengku Razaleigh himself,” he added.
He also accused Razaleigh’s supporters of paying off Umno delegates in hotels and toilets.
Following the deregistration of Umno, Mahathir formed Umno Baru while Razaleigh formed a splinter party called Semangat 46. In 1996, Razaleigh dissolved his party to rejoin Umno (Baru).
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