Lying versus smearing, allegedly

Former PM Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his team appeared very well prepared in their battle with PM DS Najib Razak and his supporters.

Less than 24 hours after the release of the latest FAQs by the prime minister which you can read here, Dr Mahathir posted another critical entry about Najib in his blog,

SIAPA BERTANGGUNGJAWAB

Dr Mahathir this time completely ignored the Najib's FAQs and had instead pressed on along this angle of attack from his previous post,

NAJIB DAN PEMBOHONGAN 

Excerpts from Dr Mahathir's latest post,

4. Perdana Menteri telah jelaskan bahawa wang sebanyak USD 1 billion tidak dibawa balik ke Malaysia kerana Bank Negara akan menganggu urusan keluar masuk wang yang lebih dari 50 juta.

5. Setahu saya bank-bank telah diarah menyoal urusan yang lebih dari RM50,000/-. Jika urusan tidak ada kaitan dengan “money laundering”, iaitu yang didapati secara haram, ia tidak jadi masalah.

6. Soalnya apakah 1MDB dengan pengetahuan penasihatnya terlibat dengan money laundering, sehingga wang dari Cayman Islands terpaksa disimpan di Singapura.

7. Singapura juga memeriksa dengan teliti wang yang masuk-keluar negara itu bagi mengelak jenayah money laundering. Apakah 1MDB tidak tahu akan peraturan Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)?

8. Atau apakah tujuan sebenar ialah untuk membohong berkenaan penyimpanan wang ini di Singapura, iaitu sebenarnya tidak ada wang yang disimpan di sana, bahawa wang sebanyak lebih satu billion U.S. dollar sudah hilang.

9. Jika tidak dapat dibuktikan wang ini ada di Singapura, maka sekali lagi, pegawai dan menteri bersalah kerana membohong.

Now it's really becoming a case of tit-for-tat between the PM and his ex-boss.

In his latest FAQs, Najib among others said, "Much of what Tun has said lacks objectivity and is downright wrong."

Dr Mahathir today simply responded by reiterating that Najib may had lied or attempting to lie over the 1MDB issue.

Personally, I would prefer for both of them to be inaccurate in their assessment of each other.

I would rather want to believe that Dr Mahathir was being fed with the wrong information by people with vested interest, causing him to attack Najib out of fear that his former protege may cause the downfall of Umno and Barisan Nasional.

I would also like to believe that Najib on his part was given poorly prepared information by his less than brilliant people, causing him to give a less than satisfactory explanation of the 1MDB issue, thus prompting Dr Mahathir to come up with the idea that the PM was trying to dupe the people.

Those would be better than having to believe that either of those two guys is a crook.

Yes, maybe both men should consider the position of each other and try to be more positive about it.

I still believe that the only way this Najib-Dr Mahathir spat could be put to an end is for both of them to meet and talk with each other for the sake of not only Umno and BN, but also the country.

But since both at the moment still prefer to continue fighting, I think I will try to study more carefully BN's chances of winning the next general election under Najib's leadership.

Honestly, I doubt Dr Mahathir will be able to force Najib to step down from his PM post before the polls.

I also don't think anyone credible in Umno have the balls to challenge Najib for now.

Well, in the light of that, who knows, maybe Najib can really pull it off even if all of Dr Mahathir's supporters decided not to vote for BN in the next general election.

That would be brilliant....but again, my money is not on it happening.