Answering Salleh's rant about Dr Mahathir

DS Salleh Said Keruak was chief minister of Sabah from Dec 28, 1994 to May 26 1996.

He was nominated to the post by then prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, before being appointed by his father, then Sabah governor Mohd Said Keruak who was also the state's 4th chief minister.

He is now the current speaker of Sabah state assembly.

I think the introduction was necessary as some of you, especially the younger ones may not know the guy who is now one of the fiercest attackers of Dr Mahathir.

Yesterday he described Dr Mahathir's conduct at the PWTC as

Unbecoming of a statesman

The following is his article in full with my comments in blue ;

Salleh Said Keruak

Annie, a little lady of the valley

Those critical of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak are mocking him for not attending the ‘Nothing2Hide’ dialogue session today.

Yes, naturally that's the outcome. What did you expect? 

Some have even called him a coward for ‘chickening out’ and for not having the guts to face Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

I think Najib was called even worse than that.

Personally, I think the public dialogue that was going to be turned into a public brawl between the Prime Minister and Dr Mahathir is a bad idea.

That's your personal opinion. But, Ya. You shouldn't be brawling with a 90 year old man. In fact you shouldn't even badmouth such an old man, especially if he is a statesman who had done so much for the country and once put you personally in a lofty position. 

I was actually quite relieved when it was called off. First of all, I do not see what such a brawl can achieve. There are no winners and losers in something like this.

Actually, there's always be a winner and loser in a brawl. The one standing at the end of it is the winner, while the one thrashed to the ground is the loser. 

I remember when a public debate was held between PKR Youth and Umno Youth, also in PWTC, and it was reduced to a jeering match with both sides claiming they won the debate.

Was it?  

All it did was to reduce the dignity of the debaters to the level of the crowd who were only interested in seeing a fight and were not interested in the facts that the debaters had to argue.

I don't think there would have been a debate if the PM turned up. Najib will be on stage answering questions while Dr Mahathir will be on the floor asking questions. I don't remember ever seeing Dr Mahathir debating in public. He was just asking questions this time. Just answer him lah.   

This is what would have happened today. No one would have been interested in what the Prime Minister has to say. What they wanted to see was for Dr Mahathir to hentam Najib in public. 

Eeerrr...I would be interested in what the PM has to say. Wouldn't you all too? Most of the people in the hall were civilized people from the NGOs. I think they would want to listen to the PM too. I think Dr Mahathir can act with decorum and not just buta buta hantam Najib. 

In fact, that was the very purpose for Tun Mahathir turning up, so that he could hentam Najib. Dr Mahathir does not care what Najib has to say.

That's your opinion. My opinion was that Dr Mahathir went to the forum to get answers for his questions. If the answers were reasonable, he may just shut up. The audience could be the judges if he still make noise if Najib had given satisfactory answers. 

He has already decided he will not accept Najib’s explanation.

You assumed too much. If the answers were good, I think Dr Mahathir will have to accept them as the whole thing was to be disclosed in a public forum. 

Dr Mahathir has reduced himself from the level of a statesman to that of a street brawler.

People can say that you have been reduced to that of a shameless attack dog. 

And this is most unfortunate. What is even more unfortunate is that Dr Mahathir expects the Prime Minister to also come down to this level.

Nope. As I said, Dr Mahathir was to be on the floor asking questions, while the PM on the stage answering him. I don't think Dr Mahathir will ask Najib to go down to be with him on the floor. 

Had Najib turned up today the entire event would have become undignified.

I think it would have been great if the PM had turned up, met Dr Mahathir, be nice to him, answered him to his satisfaction and everything becomes well again. 

With the shouting, booing and jeering, and the main purpose being to run down the Prime Minister, nothing would have been achieved.

I watched the video clip of Dr Mahathir's interrupted speech. The jeering only started when they told him to stop talking. I think the audience is a civilized one if the organizer know how to keep things under control. 

It was, therefore, a very good idea that Najib did not turn up.

It's a bloody bad idea that Najib did not turn up as now he is being whacked upside down in the social media and no amount of spinning can help the PM now. 

I dread to think what would have happened had he turned up and tempers had gone out of control. Under such a situation it does not take much for words to turn to violence.

Errr...whatever lah...