Mahathir loyalist blasts Abdullah's supporters

Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Mahathir loyalist blasts Abdullah's supporters

PM's son-in-law and NST deputy chairman corrupt, Matthias Chang charges

By Leslie Lau
The Straits Times

The political temperature in Kuala Lumpur was raised further yesterday when a long-time loyalist of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad lashed out at Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi's aides and his ministers.

Lawyer Matthias Chang, a former political secretary to Tun Dr Mahathir, launched a blustering, often rambling attack at an hour-long press conference, at times shouting out challenges to the former premier's detractors.

His main targets were the Prime Minister's son-in-law, Mr Khairy Jamaluddin, and Datuk Kalimullah Hassan, the former group editor-in-chief of the New Straits Times, whom he charged were corrupt.

He provided little evidence to support his allegations, except to say that the two men were 'powers behind the throne', who also held interests in an investment bank. He called them cowards, and dared them to a public debate, accusing them of using the newspaper to demonise his former boss.

Mr Chang claimed the newspaper had published stories to make it appear that Datuk Seri Abdullah was bending over backwards to respect Tun Dr Mahathir. He said such stories were pure 'spin', but he provided no examples.

'You are the cobra doing the work of our enemies. You are a traitor,' he said of Datuk Kalimullah, who is now deputy chairman of the New Straits Times.

Showing a flair for the dramatic, he placed five holy books, including the Quran and the Bible, in front of him, and swore he was telling the truth in speaking for Tun Dr Mahathir, or 'may lightning strike me now'.

He sought to paint a picture of his old boss as being a sterling retired leader under siege from ungrateful successors and their aides.

On Sunday, Datuk Kalimullah issued a sharp rebuke to Tun Dr Mahathir's criticisms and claims that Datuk Seri Abdullah had betrayed him in reversing his policies.

He wrote in his weekly column that Tun Dr Mahathir's attacks against his successor were irrational and had caused him to lose the goodwill of Malaysians.

Taking up cudgels for his former boss, Mr Chang accused Mr Khairy, who is also the deputy Umno Youth chief, of planning to demonise Tun Dr Mahathir just months before he handed power over to Datuk Seri Abdullah in 2003.

'There was a supplement in the Economist that attacked Tun Mahathir. It was arranged by Khairy,' he charged.

For good measure, he also lobbed potshots at various ministers, such as Education Minister Datuk Hishammuddin Hussein and Sports Minister Datuk Azalina Othman, for daring to speak out against Tun Dr Mahathir, a man he described as a 'Malay hero'.

'I spit in the face of those Malays who show disrespect for this Malay hero,' he declared.

Mr Chang, a little known lawyer, does not belong to any political party, and had been appointed a political secretary to Tun Dr Mahathir in the waning years of his administration.

Three years after returning to his legal practice following Tun Dr Mahathir's retirement, he remains loyal to his old boss.

In April, he had also been vocal in his criticism of the current administration for scrapping the project to replace the Causeway.

He was equally venomous in speaking for the former premier yesterday.

While he maintained that his remarks had not been sanctioned by Tun Dr Mahathir, he reflected the feelings of those in his former employer's camp.

At least one current aide of the former prime minister was present at the press conference held at Mr Chang's office.

The accusations that were levelled by Mr Chang appeared to be the latest escalation in the Mahathir versus Abdullah saga that is being played out to a riveted audience here.

'This man has always been a little volatile, but he is through and through a Mahathir man. What he says clearly reflects at the very least the frustrations of Tun Mahathir's supporters,' an Umno MP who declined to be named told The Straits Times.