Mahathir, who was once Umno president, said the party which he had been part of for many years was dead, and had deviated far from its original goal of struggling for the country.
The Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman said parties were set up not because people wanted positions, but because they wanted to do something good for the country.
“I wish to admit this. We live in strange times. I was once Umno president, now I am criticising Umno. Why? Because Umno is already dead. What exists is not Umno, but a Najib party.
“Umno no longer fights for the country. It fights for Najib.
“Similarly, PAS is also changing, to the point that their leaders are running away from the party,” Mahathir told a crowd of a few thousand gathered in Guar Chempedak last night for the “Jelajah Pakatan Harapan” ceramah.
Mahathir said he was pleasantly surprised by the turnout, as many had attended the gathering in spite of the rain. He said he had only expected a few hundred, or at the most 1,000.
Also present were DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, PPBM president Muhyiddin Yassin, PPBM deputy president Mukhriz Mahathir, Amanah president Mohamad Sabu, and PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.
Mahathir, who is also PPBM chairman, said change, whether good or bad, was inevitable in politics. However, he added that the change currently taking place in the federal government was not good.
Referring to the bulldozing of the Election Commission’s (EC) redelineation report in the Dewan Rakyat on Wednesday, Mahathir said Parliament was now only a show.
“We believe we must have a Parliament where MPs can debate, discuss and scrutinise laws.
“Now there is no more Parliament. There is just a show. Imagine, something as important as a redelineation debate lasted just two hours when in actual fact it was something that should take weeks.
“What is the point of having a meeting then? Just ask the speaker to pass it. End of story.”
Mahathir claimed the report was rushed through not because the government was smart, but because it was greedy.
“The reason why they want to carry out the changes to the electoral boundaries is because they want mayhem in the 14th general election (GE14).
“Najib believes that by changing these boundaries, the Malays will be with the Malays, and the Chinese will be separated from the Malays.
“He thinks Malays are dumb. He thinks that he can just give them a bit of money, and they will vote for Barisan Nasional.”
Mahathir added however that the people were not so easy to buy off.
“We are Malays with brains, and we can make our own judgment.”
The Dewan Rakyat passed the motion on the redelineation of electoral boundaries on Wednesday after two hours of debate by MPs from both sides. Earlier, there had been protests against the plan outside the Parliament building.
During the debate, seven MPs from each side were allowed 10 minutes each to put their points across.
Mahathir had subsequently criticised the government for the hasty approval of the redelineation, saying MPs were not given enough time to debate on the EC’s proposal.
Mahathir himself also took part in the protests outside Parliament grounds, which were held in an attempt to stop the tabling of the EC report.
The report has since been gazetted with the king’s consent.