The Umno president said Mahathir’s “Melayu Mudah Lupa” (Malays forget easily) poem was in fact a reference to himself.
Najib said Mahathir, who had quit Umno and joined the opposition, had “crossed the line” when he decided to join forces with his former political rivals.
“Mahathir once stood on this stage and proclaimed that Malays forget easily.
“Yet to us, this man crossed the line when he collaborated with his political enemies of a few decades,” he said when delivering his keynote address at the 71st Umno general assembly.
He also accused the PPBM chairman of trying to safeguard his personal interests by joining the opposition camp.
“It is clear that the phrase ‘Malays forget easily’ refers to himself, as those who hold dear to the spirit and the philosophy of Umno’s struggles like us, Insha Allah, will not turn into Malays who forget easily,” he told some 6,000 Umno delegates attending the annual congress today.
Najib then trained his guns on DAP, saying that for the last five decades, it was controlled by a “dynasty” led by Lim Kit Siang.
“So where is this democracy they shout about? It’s clear it’s only in name. In fact, in the recent DAP central executive committee re-election, only 54% turned up.”
Turning to PPBM, Najib said the party could not even manage party affairs, believed to be a reference to its troubles with the Registrar of Societies (RoS).
“If they can’t even take care of such matters, how will they manage a country?” he said, adding that PPBM was merely a puppet for DAP.
“They claim they are fighting for Islam as the Malays, yet they formed an alliance with DAP who are clearly anti-Malay and anti-Islam,” he said, adding that DAP’s constitution does not mention that Islam is the religion of the federation, and that the party was bent on turning Malaysia into a secular country.
Najib said the DAP-led Penang government meanwhile was ungrateful for all the help from Putrajaya.
“When I approved the allocation to upgrade the Penang International Airport, the chief minister thanked us,” he said, referring to Lim Guan Eng.
“Yet, when the time came to approve the 2018 Budget, Pakatan Harapan MPs, who were led by DAP, rejected it.”
He said Guan Eng had been in tears when he “begged” Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for assistance during the recent floods.
But Najib said the chief minister later accused the federal government of not helping.
“These are lies which are a manifestation of DAP’s bad attitude.”