Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad is not someone who fears controversy. In fact, he seems to thrive on it.

And he has done it again by making claims that have been described variously as “a travesty”, “incorrect”, “invention”, “illogical” and “baseless propaganda”.

His latest claim is that promoting Malaysia as a multiracial country is against the Federal Constitution.

In responding to Umno Bukit Gelugor information chief Huzaidi Hussin who had urged him to stop playing up racial sentiments as most Malays had moved on and were eager to see a resurgence of the nation’s economy, Mahathir tweeted:

“I am just voicing out on what was stated in the Federal Constitution. It’s not against the law to defend the constitution. But what is against the constitution is promoting the country as a multiracial country.

“Is the current government rejecting the Rule of Law including the Federal Constitution that never said Malaysia is a multiracial country. In fact, the constitution stresses upon the ‘Malay-ness’ of Malaysia.”

That, of course, invited a round of criticism against him and his claim, with legal experts saying he misunderstood the constitution and one even calling Mahathir’s interpretation of the constitution “a travesty”.

Some ordinary Malaysians on social media were not very kind in their choice of words.

Initially, my reaction was to slam Mahathir’s statement but then, having covered assignments involving Mahathir as a journalist in the past, I felt the best person to refute his statement would be Mahathir himself.

Today, Mahathir says Malaysia is constitutionally not a multiracial nation and that promoting the country as a multiracial country is unconstitutional.

Let’s take a look at what he said in earlier years, especially when he was prime minister.

In his message in conjunction with the Chinese New Year celebration in 2020, Mahathir said Malaysians had for decades accepted the fact that Malaysia was a multiracial country and that they needed to tolerate each other to live in peace and harmony.

“So, we must not let the country be destroyed by racial hatred,” Bernama quoted him as saying on Jan 25, 2020.

On May 18, 2015, he was reported as saying: “During my time (as prime minister), over five elections, we always had the support of other communities and this enabled us to always form a two-thirds majority.”

He added that when the Malays were “unhappy” with him in 1999 after Anwar Ibrahim’s sacking as deputy prime minister and the “black eye” incident, it was the support of “the other races” that enabled Barisan Nasional to keep its two-thirds majority.

On June 19, 2003, in talking about the government’s success in helping the Malays, Mahathir told delegates to the 54th Umno general assembly at World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur:

“The multiracial people of Malaysia live in peace and harmony thanks to the policy of the first Prime Minister, YTM Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra. The disparities in the economic wealth of the different races have been reduced.”

On April 25, 1997, in a speech at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Council of Churches Malaysia, Mahathir said:

“We are very fortunate that this multiracial and multireligious society of ours has had a long experience and tradition of living in harmony with each other. As a direct result we have achieved tremendous economic progress that has considerably lifted the quality of life of our people. This cooperation regardless of race and religion will further reinforce our capacity to build a more liberal and tolerant society.”

In March 27, 1996, in a speech at the inauguration of the chair of Malay Studies at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, Mahathir said, among other things:

“After 20 years of the New Economic Policy, Malaysia is much more balanced economically, stable politically and race relations are much improved. By comparison with other multiracial countries, Malaysia is a haven of peace and racial harmony.”

On Sept 28, 1985, the New Straits Times reported him as saying:

“But Malaysia is our country, the country of the Malays, the Bumiputeras, and Malaysians of Chinese origin, Indians, Ibans, Kadazans and other ethnic groups.”

Mahathir went on to clearly state that Malaysia was a multiracial nation, something he is denying now.

“I like to reiterate that Malaysia is a multiracial and multireligious country. While Islam is recognised as the country‟s official religion, other religions can freely be practiced by their respective followers. Besides, Muslims are protected from the spread of other religions. On the contrary, in spreading and increasing the number of Muslims, the use of force is completely out.”

If all this is not enough, let’s look at Mahathir’s Vision 2020, something that he was very proud of and which he pushed hard to achieve when he was prime minister.

Mahathir announced what was to become known as Vision 2020 in his famous The Way Forward speech at the inaugural meeting of the Malaysian Business Council on Feb 28, 1991.

In it, he outlined “nine central strategic challenges that have confronted us from the moment of our birth as an independent nation” and which needed to be overcome. He listed all nine.

He said: “The fifth challenge that we have always faced is the challenge of establishing a mature, liberal and tolerant society in which Malaysians of all colours and creeds are free to practise and profess their customs, cultures and religious belief and yet feeling that they belong to one nation.”

If that doesn’t refer to a multiracial, multireligious, multicultural nation, I don’t know what does.

We can only hope that the good doctor will look back on positions he had taken previously and read his old statements (they should be available at his Perdana library) before uttering remarks that will be seen as false or a travesty or ridiculous or racist or aimed at creating disharmony.

Such statements only harm his credibility and whatever respect people still have for him.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.