PBS secretary-general Johnny Mositun told FMT that during his rule, Mahathir was given all the freedom to carry out his duties as the prime minister and highly respected by those under him.
“Now, Mahathir should let Najib do his job as prime minister. If Mahathir is sincere, cooperate with Najib to return the rights of Sabah and Sarawak.”
Mositun was commenting on Mahathir’s speech at the PPBM annual general meeting on Saturday when the veteran statesman took the opportunity to criticise Najib and the federal government.
Before ending his speech, Mahathir also apologised for past mistakes made during his tenure as prime minister.
Mositun said he welcomed the apology but insisted that if Mahathir is sincere, then he should repent for his mistakes and stop doing all the nonsense, including going against BN, which he himself helped build.
Furthermore, he said the apology should also be directed towards Sabahans who suffered much because of Project IC.
“If he is sincere, he should reveal all the names involved in Project IC and the people who benefited from these ICs,” he said.
Project IC was an operation, during Mahathir’s time, that is said to have flooded Sabah with illegal immigrants promised Malaysian citizenship.
During a press conference four years ago, Mahathir admitted he had given citizenship to immigrants from the southern Philippines but defended his action by saying that he did it all in accordance with the law.
Mositun’s sentiment on the issue was shared by United Pasok Momogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko) acting president Wilfred Madius Tangau who said Sabahans will never forget Mahathir because his Project IC has caused such permanent damage to the state and its people.
“He has never apologised for this. His speech yesterday also did not address how he will repair this damage.
“In fact, his speech yesterday did not touch on any Sabah and Sarawak issues at all — just like how he neglected us when he was prime minister.”
Tangau perceived this lack of regard towards Sabah and Sarawak means the trend of Mahathir treating Sabah and Sarawak as unwanted orphans will continue should he and Pakatan Harapan take power after the 14th general election.
For this, he said Sabahans must continue to reject Mahathir and his allies in Sabah, including DAP, PKR and Parti Warisan Sabah.
Commenting on Mahathir’s promise to reduce foreign workers by five million people if PH wins, Tangau wondered who will be taking up the vacancies left by these foreign workers because at the moment, there are only 500,000 Malaysians listed as unemployed.
Reducing the foreign workers by five million, he said would mean a shortfall of 4.5 million workers.
“There is also no guarantee that locals may want to take up the ‘dirty, dangerous or difficult’ jobs vacated by the foreign workers.
“So to me, this is just a populist promise that PPBM has no real strategy to fulfil.
“However, I hope Mahathir’s idea is not to do a Project IC 2.0 to replace the 4.5 million workers’ shortfall by giving Malaysian citizenship to foreign workers.”
Salleh: Mahathir’s ‘apology’ for mistakes not sincere, unclear