Speaking to reporters after a book launch, Tawfik Ismail questioned whether Mahathir could live with Pakatan Harapan’s decision that Anwar should succeed him.
“Listening to sort of what’s denied (about attempts to stop Anwar from becoming prime minister), it’s almost like listening to what Anwar and Mahathir said many, many years (ago).
“I support you, you support me then the next day, you know, one is killed,” said the former Sungai Benut MP.
Previously, PKR’s Kapar MP Abdullah Sani Abdul Hamid had claimed there was a plot by Mahathir’s long-time lieutenant Daim Zainuddin to stop Anwar from becoming the next prime minister.
The allegations were denied by Mahathir, and Abdullah subsequently apologised.
Tawfik said “succession planning” wasn’t Mahathir’s strength because everyone he’d named as a successor had either failed or got kicked out, like Musa Hitam, Ghafar Baba, Anwar, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Najib Razak.
He said Umno was like a stagnant pond without inlet or outlet, adding that in such a pond, “beautiful fishes” could not survive and that only “bottom feeders” could.
“That’s what Umno had towards the end of it’s time in power. Abdullah and Najib could only choose among bottom feeders because the entrance for new talent had been blocked by their predecessor.”
Tawfik, a critic of Mahathir, said this was because Mahathir, as then Umno president, had a notion that unless one was loyal to him they couldn’t be a member of the party.
He noted that many weren’t allowed in to “Umno Baru” set up following the party’s crisis in 1986.
He added that the last “good guys” in Umno, especially those who took on Mahathir in the 1980s and returned when Abdullah did, left when the fifth prime minister was forced out.
“Those who remained were the ones who created problems with race and religion. Najib tried to make Umno a liberal party, but could only choose from people who were available but they weren’t like minded.”
Tawfik added this was why there was hardly any change after the May 9 polls as the bottom feeders were still around.
“Things like religion and race are still being harped on. We have a situation where we removed a government that didn’t expect to lose and brought in a government that didn’t expect to win.
“The uncertainties on both sides became very apparent. Look at the way the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issue is being treated and how religion is being played up in by-elections.
“We have a long way to go,” he said after launching the book titled “Anatomy of an Electoral Tsunami” by Lim Teck Ghee, S Thayaparan and Terence Netto.