KOTA KINABALU: Former Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Dr Salleh Said Keruak said that former Premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad will likely use “economics” as a tool to advance his political objectives.
He believed that Mahathir would make a serious attempt to lure and place significant investments from overseas into the four states following his appointment as the SG4 economic advisor.
Salleh said this would demonstrate to the Malaysian people that Mahathir is both capable and the best candidate to attract foreign investors.
“I think that this would be his immediate plan of action to gain the support of the people to warrant his comeback.
“That is why Tun Mahathir has to be at the forefront and not Tan Sri Muhyiddin. And that is why it must be seen as an economic move and not a political one,” he said in his latest Facebook posting.
Salleh said, “The smart thing about Mahathir is that he would first garner popular support and gain public confidence before making a political challenge”.
“Very smart of him to lay the groundwork using economics, which Muhyiddin would not have thought of. We may call these strategic moves the ‘indirect approach’, which is his standard operating procedure,” he said.
The former Communications and Multimedia Minister said since the four states are basically Malay states, this might also be his strategy to consolidate the support of the Malay population.
“Mahathir wanted the Malay support very badly to materialise his comeback; that’s why he worked with PAS. PAS in turn wants to make use of Mahathir’s image to attract moderate Malays as well as non-Malays,” he added.
According to Salleh, Mahathir always propagates that the ends justify the means.
“He also chose his friends and enemies according to the circumstances on each particular occasion. That’s why, to him, there are no permanent friends and no permanent enemies.
“This is the true reflection of Tun Mahathir’s attitude during the 2015 political crisis in which I myself was involved,” he said.
