In a Facebook post, Lim said former political consultant Romen Bose’s book Shattered Hopes showed that Mahathir’s memory of his second stint as prime minister was “riddled with half-truths and falsehoods” .
“Mahathir is an expert in selective memory to paint a favourable picture of himself,” said Lim.
“While we can charitably attribute such lapses to senility due to his advanced age, his unbridled political ambitions and motivation for vengeance politics compel me to put the record straight.”
Lim said that as finance minister in Mahathir’s Pakatan Harapan Cabinet, he witnessed firsthand the veteran politician’s commendable start in Putrajaya – where the latter was intent on delivering on PH’s 2018 election manifesto.
However, he said Mahathir’s early promise rapidly descended to an open contempt of the coalition’s election promises, which the latter said was not sacrosanct.
The Bagan MP also said the PH administration quickly spiralled into daily battles between those seeking to uphold major election promises and Mahathir.
Lim claimed Mahathir did not agree with his insistence on reducing the North-South Highway toll by 18%, and that Mahathir was also opposed to the implementation of open tenders for government procurements and granting development allocations to MPs.
“No wonder PH’s popularity plunged when Mahathir was intent on fighting his allies as ferociously as his opponents,” said the former Penang chief minister.
“Despite his opposition, I managed to lobby a majority of Cabinet members to agree with these proposals, to his chagrin.”
Mahathir’s second stint as prime minister ended with his resignation in February 2020, which led to the formation of the Perikatan Nasional government comprising MPs from Bersatu, Umno, PAS and smaller parties, with the support of Gabungan Parti Sarawak.
In his book, Bose said Mahathir was wary of plots within PH to topple him as head of the government, with then inspector-general of police Abdul Hamid Bador frequently turning up at Mahathir’s office to “update” him on the goings-on among fellow PH leaders.
Citing sources, Bose claimed that the Special Branch monitored several DAP leaders, including its stalwart, Lim Kit Siang, who, he said, was keen to “rebuild the Chinese population”.
The book goes on sale from June 30.